Through Troubled Nights
by pacificbluegirl
Summary: Tony has a bit of fun in the office and Kate's having a bit of trouble with a new boyfriend. Can she trust Tony to help her out when she needs it? TATE. Hints of McAbby.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Through Troubled Nights

**Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS. If I did I wouldn't have let Sasha leave… I would've chained her to… Michael. Then the writers would have a great excuse for writing lost and lots of Tate moments, they would have to be in all scenes together! mohahaha

**Summary:** Tony has a bit of fun in the office and Kate's having a bit of trouble with a new boyfriend. Can she trust Tony to help her out when she needs it?

**Spoilers:** Shouldn't be any… if there are… well then… I must have lost it 'cause there really shouldn't be any.

**Timeline:** Twi- what? Have nooo idea of what you're talking about. No Twilight here… just didn't happen in my world. No, nein, nej… No but seriously this could be whenever really.

This chapter is dedicated to Tony………………………………………………..the dog.

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"Damn…"

Kate tried to ignore Tony as he swore loudly and frustrated tried to rebuild his fallen pyramid built out of Maltesers for about the 12th time in the last 30 minutes.

"If only I could…" He bit his tongue in concentration and slowly… slowly reached out to place another light ball of chocolate on the growing formation on his desk.

"Aren't you supposed to work?" Kate asked not lifting her eyes from her own work.

Gibbs walked in and made it over to the desk area in a very quiet Gibbs way.

"This is working…" mumbled Tony.

"So is prostitution! Wanna do that for a living DiNozzo?" Gibbs slammed his fist into the younger agents' desk and the Maltesers formerly known as a 30 cm high pyramid went flying.

"No" sighed Tony as he saw his project fall into tiny pieces, chocolates with crisp centres shattering to the ground ending up all over the floor. Kate stuck her tongue out at Tony.

"Back to those files then, before I fire you," Gibbs barked. He was on his way down to Abby and couldn't for his life understand why his agents had to behave like 3 year olds all the time. "and put your tongue back in your mouth Agent Todd."

Tony grinned at her, pleased that he wasn't the only one to be told off. Kate rolled her eyes at him and returned to her own files at her desk.

Tony tried to work his way through the files at his desk… he really tried… but he just couldn't concentrate. Across from him sat Kate. For every sentence he read or for every name he followed up on his computer he came to the same conclusion; Messing with Kate would be more fun.

He looked in the direction of the elevators just to make sure that Gibbs wasn't on his way up again and then dove under his desk.

"Hey my tiny little delicious chocolate covered buddies!" he greeted as he found himself sitting among Maltesers on the floor. He poked his head up just above his desk to make sure Kate was still concentrating on her paperwork. She was.

She was used to Tony not sitting still at his desk and didn't think twice about the movement she caught in the corner of her eye when he jumped down behind his desk. As always when it came to Tony and his little escapades she should've thought about it… she should've gotten out of the room when she had the chance.

Tony placed himself on his stomach on the floor careful not to lie on any of the chocolates. Messing with Kate was fun but he did not want to ruin his new white shirt. He filled both hands with sweets and started crawling around the desk on the floor. Helping himself forward with his elbows, he had to bite his lip not to laugh out loud at himself.

_I'm one funny guy_, he thought and nodded. He almost wished that Kate would tare her eyes from her computer and see him there on the floor, that's how funny he considered himself at that moment. _Gibbs for one would not agree._ Tony winced at the thought of Gibbs finding him there on the floor and glanced once again towards the elevators. No sign of him. _Funny and hot as hell_, he thought continuing his trip towards Kate's desk.

Kate was determined to finish her paperwork early today. She wanted to go home and prepare for the evening. She had decided to break things off with this guy she'd been seeing for a couple of weeks now. Mitchell had been great at the beginning but lately Kate had seen sides of him that she didn't really like. She didn't think he had a problem with her job at first but just the other week he had made it pretty clear to her that he didn't think it was a job for a woman. He'd also become very protective and possessive, something that Kate, in mild doses, thought could be cute but with Mitchell it made her uncomfortable. He'd become violent and angry if he saw her talking to another man. Kate had planned to stop seeing him for a while now but something always came in the way. She would be ready to tell him over dinner and he'd jump in and accuse her of something crazy like cheating on him. He would go on and on about it and twist and turn things until she found herself defending herself, and she hadn't even done anything.

The evening would end with her practically apologizing to him for making him even consider the possibility of her cheating on him. He had this way with words that made her head spin and she found herself just nodding and agreeing with him time and time again. A man that does that to a woman that used to be in the Secret Service and now is in NCIS is trouble. Kate did not need those qualities in a man and his violent tendencies had started to scare her.

_Tonight I won't let him twist it around in any way,_ she thought, _tonight I'll just do it. I'll tell him it's over and that's it. I won't let him scare me._

Meanwhile Tony had made his way over to her desk, still on his stomach and hands filled with now sticky, half melted chocolates. He crawled in under her desk. _This would have been even more enjoyable if she'd had a skirt on today… _He thought, grinning as he carefully made his way closer and closer to her legs. He knew he was lucky. Had she not been so concentrated she surely would have realized he was under there by now.

He held his breath as his nose could almost touch her knees now. He looked up and could see her chin in the crack between the top of her desk and her stomach. He had to come just a little closer. On his knees now, under the desk he turned his head just slightly and manoeuvred himself over her knees so that if he let his head down just a cm or two, it'd rest on her lap. _Now this is almost silly,_ he thought to himself, _how can she not notice what I'm doing!_

Gibbs wouldn't be out of there forever so Tony decided that it was now or never. With another one of his huge grins on his face he counted to three in his head and then threw a sticky chocolate ball up in the air. It found its way to Kate's chin and she stirred, her concentration broken. She looked down at a grinning Tony with her eyes wide just as he threw another one, and another one. And there it came again, and again, again, and again. He laughed, enjoying himself and thought he would die from laughter as she scrambled from her chair with little screams, trying to get away from him and the small half melted chocolates that came flying hitting her in the face, leaving little dots of chocolate on her skin.

"TONY!" she screamed at him. "Get out from under my desk you little… little… aarrrgh!"

He climbed out from under the desk and hopped onto her chair where she had been sitting just seconds earlier. He laughed and gave the chair a little spin.

"I'm totally telling Gary in Surveillance to get me a copy of this!" he grinned, spinning around and around on Kate's chair.

Kate stood really angry at him scrubbing her face trying to get rid of all the chocolate dots. "I want to strangle you DiNozzo! I'm not kidding, I want you dead!"

Tony just couldn't stop laughing. _This so beats going through files!_

Gibbs stepped off the elevator and Kate immediately dashed to his side.

"Gibbs! Tony-" She was really angry with Tony and Gibbs knew what was up. It felt like they dealt with these kinds of things a thousand times a day. He didn't feel like hearing what Tony had done this time and then hear Tony tell the tale of how Kate had bugged him earlier and then crack some joke about how Kate was just embarrassed 'cause she wanted to sleep with him. Gibbs decided to cut Kate short before the whole carousel started.

"Go home guys. Kate, Tony… see ya tomorrow. Go! Try not to shoot him in the elevator Kate."

"Can I shoot him in the parking lot then?" she asked.

"If you have to shoot him, do it some place without surveillance cameras." Gibbs returned to his desk and sighed as Kate and Tony fought all the way to the elevator pushing and shoving each other as they went.

As angry as she was with Tony, Kate was still a little sad to be separated from him there in the parking lot. He was annoying as hell but still she managed to like him and care about him and most importantly, she didn't think about Mitchell when Tony was around. For some strange reason she seemed to only think about Tony when Tony was around.

"See you tomorrow Katie" Tony smiled, popping a Malteser in his mouth and then stepping into his car.

"… Bye Tony" she sighed unlocking her own car and then getting in. She now had a couple of hours before she was supposed to meet Mitchell and break things off with him. _Please let this go well,_ she thought as she left the parking lot. She had a feeling that it wouldn't.

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What will Mitchell say when she breaks up with him? And Tony is great at bugging Kate but can he help her when she needs it?

I hope you've enjoyed this so far. Review and tell me whatever you want to tell me. Is it your birthday today? Tell me in a review. Want to share what colour your socks are today? Do it in a review. :)


	2. So Follow Me Home

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone that has reviewed the first chapter :) it means a lot to me. I decided on a bit of a light opening but this story will take a slightly new direction from here on but the Maltesers will be back later. :P

Happy Birthday ("Grattis på födelsedagen" in Swedish) TV-LUVIN-HOTTIE (a little late) and Rayadreamer and Ggirlxxx (a bit early). Here comes a slightly longer chapter for ya. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1.

**Through Troubled Nights Chapter 2: So Follow Me Home…**

_It's now or never…, it's now or never… _Kate told herself over and over again, pacing her living room. _I'll just do it, and then he won't have anything against me leaving early…I'll be back here in no time!_

All she had to do was get into her car and drive to the restaurant, tell him, and go home. It wasn't harder than that, at least not theoretically. _I can drive; I've known how to do that for quite some time now. I know where the restaurant is. I'm capable of speaking and I know my way home again. How hard can it be? _

_I really like theoretically right now!_ She thought taking another deep calming breath as she checked herself out in the hall mirror. She made sure her hair and make up was good and then walked out of the apartment with the never ending "It's now or never"-echo in her head. Another voice in her head, the voice of the scared Kate, told her she could wait. It told her that she didn't need to see him at all. She could just run… or ignore him… or both! _Maybe I could shoot him?_

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"Hello, darling!" Mitchell greeted with a little too sweet smile on his face as she met up with him outside the restaurant. "Ready for some Italian?"

_Tony...? No! Focus! Kate this is not a good time to think about your annoying co-worker! _She shook the thought away.

"Huh? Oh yeah…. sure"

Mitchell took her hand in his and ignored the look on her face that told him she wanted to yank away from his grasp. He wasn't stupid. He knew Kate wanted out but he would just have to teach her a lesson, now wouldn't he. He knew that she had all of these ideas in her head about women and them supposed to be strong and have minds of their own. _Isn't she stupid?_ He thought as he guided her to the table they were assigned. _Stupid, but way too cute for someone else to lay their hands on._ No, she was his and there was nothing about it to discuss. He knew what she was up to and he knew how to handle it as well. _Bring it on Katie…_

Kate had already won one battle. When Mitchell asked for this date he wanted her to come have dinner at his apartment. They could order in something, he said. Kate knew what she wanted to dump him but did not feel like doing that in his apartment… or hers for that matter. Not that she wanted to break things off with this big public scene or anything but her job had taught her to bring back up when she wasn't sure she could handle something on her own and this was a situation like that. Her back up tonight would be the other people in the restaurant. Not the best back up but that was what she had. She smiled, picturing actually telling Gibbs about Mitchell and then have him standing with his gun to Mitchell's head while she broke up with him… _oh yeah, that would be back up_. After many phone calls and Kate threatening to call the date off Mitchell had finally given in and agreed to the two of them going out somewhere.

As she sat there picking at her food Kate was really happy that she wasn't the one giving in and that she now could do this in the public eye. She'd seen him snap before… about practically nothing.

She considered opening the conversation with a "Mitchell we need to talk" but soon decided against it. After all she did not want a conversation, she wanted a monolog. _Once I let him cut me off I'm toast_, she thought. She cleared her throat and nervously played with the napkin on her lap.

"So…" another deep breath and then she spilled it "I've been thinking and I think, no I know, that we shouldn't do this anymore. I want us to stop seeing each other." She held her breath, shocked over the fact that she managed to get her message across in less than 0.3 seconds but also anticipating an answer, a reaction, anything from Mitchell. Not that she wasn't happy with him being quiet for once, but she wanted a more long term reaction.

"Okay" said Mitchell simply. He gave her a small smile. "Let me pay and then we'll get out of here alright?" His voice wasn't upset, not stressed or angry… it was just a calm and simple 'okay'.

Mitchell turned around in his seat, trying to locate their waiter so that they could get their bill. Kate just sat there not sure what to do with herself. She had her head full of different things to say to defend herself and her decision and a ton of different scenarios but none of them included the word "okay" coming from Mitchell.

"Close your mouth darling… leaving it hanging like that makes you look like a fish" Mitchell winked as he signed the bill and thanked the waiter as he got his credit card back.

Inside of Kate there was another battle going on. Someone in her head screamed at her that something was wrong. Wasn't Mitchell's 'okay' an acceptance? Was it something else? Did he hear what she'd just said?

"We're over!" she blurted out putting both her hands on the table in front of her, a desperate and slightly confused look on her face. Mitchell smiled at her again.

"Sure" He took her hand in his. This time she did take it away. She stared into his blue eyes as her mind went 200 miles an hour. _You're a profiler! Just understand him, damn it! Figure him out…_ she pleaded with herself. He stared back into her eyes and as her thoughts and theories flew by in that high speed she couldn't seem to grasp a single one for consideration. She could see his lips move… he did that again, he started talking and had her hypnotized. She had no idea what he was saying. Or did she? _Focus Kate!_

"…so since it's raining now maybe we could take your car and I would only have to walk from your place." Even though the words he used implied a question, what came out of his mouth really wasn't. It was an order. At least that's what it felt like to Kate who still had a hard time connecting her tongue to her brain. His eyes burned into hers and she found herself nodding. Rain… he didn't want to walk in the rain and she had her car… yeah that made sense… didn't it?

Kate didn't have time for an inner debate on the subject since Mitchell now, standing, ushered her out the door. She looked back to the table where they'd just had dinner, confused. Had she not been there minutes before? Seconds before? Had she not just told the man she'd been dating that they shouldn't see each other anymore?

As Mitchell slipped his arm around her waist and grabbed her car keys out of her coat pocket she didn't know anymore. _What just happened?_ She asked herself.

"Let me drive my Katie home one last time" He smiled sweetly again and didn't wait for her to answer before getting in the car. Kate, still in shock got in as well and Mitchell started the engine.

Building after building went by. A red light. It turned green and they were on their way again. More buildings… darkness broken by street lights. Kate stared in front of herself wringing her hands in her lap. _He's only driving you home, what could go wrong?_ She asked herself trying to convince herself that the growing ball of pain in her stomach was just paranoia… or possibly food poisoning.

Mitchell glanced at her from his seat. _"Drive my Katie home one last time"…_Yeah… I can't help the fact that I didn't specify which home that would be. He returned his eyes to the road ahead and ignored the fact that he was supposed to turn right to get to Kate's street.

Kate had decided not to panic. She needed to take things easy and just consider it work. A case. She was trained to do these kinds of things, for gods sake. _Who am I kidding? I wasn't trained for this! _That's when he missed the turn. She looked at him, eyes wide. _No he wouldn't… no… _

The car suddenly seemed very cold to Kate. Her fingers and hands went numb and she felt like her brain was freezing. Could she do anything? Scream? Cry…, try to fight him? They were in a car and with the heavy traffic she would endanger not only herself and Mitchell but others as well. She took a deep breath, and another one trying to calm herself.

She soon realized that Kate Todd, Agent with the NCIS was not calm after all… she realized that she had given up. She had let him win. She was on a mission and had failed. It was as if she accepted it all instead of him accepting their break up. _Well… at least I tried,_ _can't do more than that, _she thought as she let the heavy rain on the roof of the car lull her in to some kind of sleep like hypnosis. _What movie would Tony think of if he was here?_ She thought, a heavy fog settling in her head.

Mitchell dragged her out of the car. "Home one last time…" he whispered in her ear as he shoved her into the elevator. His building was big and dark to Kate. She recalled having been there once before… but in her numb state she couldn't think of when or why. He pressed the button for the 4th floor.

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As he watched Kate half sit, half lie on his floor even Mitchell wondered why she was so drained of emotion. He'd practically thrown her inside his apartment. She stood pressed up against the wall just looking at him… not the right thing to do according to Mitchell and he struck her across the face sending her to the floor with a thud. There she was now. Not moving, not crying…

"This is for you… I do this for your sake. You understand that, right?" He bent down, speaking only inches from her face, blood, from her split lip, ending up on her black dress in small drops. "You need to be taught how to behave around your man Kate." he said with a firm grip around her upper arm. He peeled her wet coat off of her and tossed it next to her spot on the floor.

_I'll just let him do whatever he wants to do and then go when he lets me…_, Kate thought as she fought hard not to show him any kind of emotion as he dragged her to her feet. _And never look back. _

"Tonight we'll practise." He said, his eyes cold. He released his grip on her arm.

_Cold as ice_, Kate thought. _Just like the car._ When she didn't response he continued.

"We're going to practise being husband and wife, darling." He walked towards his bedroom. Kate remained standing where had hauled her up. Mitchell stopped and Kate could have sworn, she saw his ice blue eyes right through his head. He turned around, slowly breathing hard, clearly frustrated with her behaviour.

"Lesson number 1, Katie:" He sneered. "When I want you to move…" he grasped a chunk of her hair "you move!" and pulled. She yelped and swaggered as the pain and shock ripped through her.

"I-I want t-to leave now" she said, still trying to remain calm.

Mitchell punched her hard in the side, she fell to the floor and felt like her ribs had shattered in to a million pieces. Mitchell got down on his knees next to her, not minding turning her over so that she faced him, he sighed loudly.

She bit her lip, to keep herself from moaning in pain.

"You're free to go…"

She let out a big sob not believing him but wanting desperately to. _How the hell did I end up here? _She thought, the pain in her side bringing tears to her eyes that she refused to let go of. She wouldn't let them fall.

"Ally… your little sister… she's pretty!" Mitchell continued when Kate refused to move. "You're free to go, as I said… I can teach Ally to be the perfect wife instead," He said, taking out a photo from his pocket. "and I could have some fun with that little girl of hers as well."

Kate felt ice run up her spine. How did he know any of this? She had never told him about her family.

She winced as she felt her ribs hurt as she moved on the floor. A grin spread across Mitchell's face as she moved. He stuck the photograph of the 4 years younger sister and her 6 year old daughter in the park under Kate's nose and watched in satisfaction as her tears finally fell from her eyes and dripped on the photo, one by one.

"Where did you get that?" she hissed not caring about the tears now.

He stood up, looking down at her. "We'll forget about Ally and little Megan if you stay tonight. Now if you share our… experiences with that team of yours or anyone else our deal is off. I'll enjoy what I plan on doing to you, but I'm telling you I'd enjoy playing a bit with Megan as well." He smiled at her again and Kate looked up at him in hatred. She hadn't talked to her sister in about a year but loved both her and her daughter. She'd die before anything happened to them. Mitchell had when taking that photo, obviously been closer to them than she had in many years… he knew where they were and would get his hands on them if he wanted to.

"Now what did we learn from lesson number one again, Kate?" asked Mitchell and turned around.

Kate stood up again, holding her side. Her legs felt like jelly and the fog in her head wouldn't disappear.

"Move…" she muttered, taking small ragged breaths trying not to fall to the floor again as she followed him.

_This has got to be the worst break up in history… _

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Maybe a bit of a boring chapter but I felt like introducing Mitchell to you all. A real catch, obviously. ;) I don't know if Kate has a sister or not but in this story she does.

You might think "Kate's not at all like herself!" and that's what Kate's thinking as well. She's just as confused and lost as you guys might be.

So, the question still stands, can Kate trust Tony to help her out? Will she tell him or is he going to find out on his own?

Yes, McGee and Abby and… well all of them (except for Ziva) will be in the next chapter. I have nothing against McAbby and I'll see what I can do about that.

Thanks for all of the descriptions of your socks btw :)

The same goes for this chapter. Want to tell me something, anything? Do it in a review :) Plans for the summer holidays? Tell me in a review ;)

Thank you.

/Malin


	3. The Act Of a Fool

**A/N:** Sorry to confuse some of you with the last chapter, but I felt like this needed a little bit of bizarre seriousness as well. When I write I like to twist and turn things. Sometimes it's predictable and sometimes it's not (at least I hope it's not :P). I love all of the speculations you guys are sharing with me in your reviews :) Keep 'em coming, it's always fun to read about your ideas. It made me think about how cool it'd be to co-write something with you all. Like 7 (!) of us all throwing in ideas…. that would be one hell of a fanfic. :P

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own NCIS or the characters in this fic. Neither do I own the small pieces of lyrics used in this chapter (_Follow Me Home_ – Sugababes). It's just an amazing song and I can feel this story almost screaming at me when I listen to it. If you have the chance, listen to it. It really is an excellent song and the video for it… well it's great. Anyways you don't have to know it to appreciate it in this story though.

**Trough Troubled Nights Chapter 3:** **The Act Of a Fool**

Never before had the light morning rays of the sun felt so cold and hostile on her face. Never before had she so strongly felt the urge to be in total control. Never before had she felt the walls closing in on her the way they did now.

Kate felt the events of last night threaten to come back to her but she pushed the memories away. She refused to see and feel it all again. She took great pride in what she had accomplished in life, in the way she always listened to herself and never let anyone else put her down. Being guided through Mitchell's living room, a hand on the small of her back, in to the kitchen reminded her of the fact that she now had lost that. She was not in control.

"Sit" Mitchell ordered placing a glass of orange juice on the table in front of her. She did what she was told, her whole body protesting and aching with the act. She wasn't sure if it was her stubborn mind that was behind that though… more like her bruised body, or maybe a bit of both. Mitchell had her swallow two painkillers telling her they would make her forget about last nights 'accident'… or at least take away the constant reminder in the form of pain shooting up her side.

As she stood in front of the mirror in his hallway, looking herself up and down she was almost shocked to see herself staring back at her. She felt like her spirit was lost and had somehow expected to find her body lost as well. But there she was, dressed in the same black dress she had worn to their date last night. It was dry now, but there was no doubt that anyone could still see that it was what she had worn the night before and that it had been through quite a lot. Trying to soothe the crumples of the skirt with her hands Kate thought she could hear the dress whisper to her…

_.:Sometimes life it drags you down  
And plays you like a fool  
Makes you feel so empty sometimes  
It can be so cruel…:._

She reached up and touched her face and watched her reflection mirror the action. Did she look like the same Kate? She wondered. Would anyone be able to see that she was broken inside?

Moving across the floor was still painful and she felt light-headed as she took shaky steps across the room. The walls still felt like they were closing in on her, swaying dangerously. As she tilted her head, she wasn't sure whether it was her head that shifted or the floor.

At that moment she didn't know what was worse, the fact that she didn't know where she had herself or that she didn't know what Mitchell had in mind for her.

He watched her steady herself against the wall and take deep breaths to clear her head. He took a step towards her, and reached out to place a hand on her arm. She looked at him as if she thought he'd kill her. He could practically see her mind working, trying to do what she does at work. Trying to analyse the situation, decide on a course of action, and follow through. Follow through had once meant taking a bullet for the president or even taking a bullet for Tony, her partner, but now when it had nothing to do with bullets or protecting anyone but herself she seemed a bit lost and confused. Mitchell grinned at her. Oh yes, he was enjoying this. _I can't believe she tried to decide if this was over or not!_ He thought as he searched for her eyes.

"We don't want that team of yours to miss you at work, do we."

She looked him straight in the eye but still seemed to see right through him. Was she dreaming? _Is he actually just going to let me go to work?_ _Just let me leave like that?_ Kate knew it was all too simple…

"Just give those pain killers some more time to work and you'll see you'll be fit to work today. Meanwhile," he let go of her arm and she took a step forward almost falling as she felt her world tilt. "I think you better not drive, darling."

She fought the urge to laugh out loud right there and then. Just laugh him straight in the face… or maybe laugh at herself and the situation she'd managed to put herself in.

_I'm dreaming this, right?_ She thought as she found herself being driven to work by Mitchell, the guy she'd broken up with last night. _Did I really break up with him?_

She did actually remember dinner as they drove through DC. She quite specifically remembered how she'd told him that they shouldn't see each other anymore. _So I did break up with him!_ She thought, a small feeling of triumph in her heart… the feeling dissolved pretty quickly… _Could have fooled me…_ she thought as she glanced at the man driving the car. She sighed and tried to ignore her now throbbing head.

As he dropped her off a couple of blocks from the NCIS building he handed her the Polaroid of her sister and her little niece.

"Just a little reminder of what could get stuck in the middle if this thing between you and me becomes… ugly" he smiled.

The picture felt like ice in her hand and she nodded. _Give him what he wants…Give him everything he wants, make sure no one gets caught up in this, and deal with everything later_, she told herself as she walked to the office. If Gibbs hadn't been Gibbs she could have called in sick and returned home, or even go home, change and the come in a bit late… But Gibbs happened to be Gibbs and she would never get away with it without being questioned about it. She just couldn't take that right now and besides, she didn't really feel like sitting at home in her apartment all day. Stuck with only herself, the bruises and her memories of failing to stay in control.

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"Hurry up!" Abby scanned the desk area for Kate, Tony or even worse Gibbs.

"I am working as quickly as I can Abby!" McGee sighed.

"My grandmother could pick a lock quicker than that McGeek" she said giving up on the whole stakeout thing and crouching beside him on the floor.

"Remind me, why are we doing this again?" Tim asked frustrated with the lock on Tony's desk drawer.

"'Cause he has those little chocolate things in there and I want them…" Abby sighed as if it was obvious and considering the fact that she had told him about the simple plan like 10 times, it was pretty obvious.

"I could buy you some of your own, you know…" Muttered McGee still trying to open the drawer.

"Move over Tim," Abby grinned. She pushed McGee away and started to work on the lock herself. "How cool would it be to just get 'em from the store? No, actually breaking in and getting them from an Italian guy that could easily have been a member of the mafia, now that's cool!"

McGee frowned. "Tony's not in the mafia!"

"Let's pretend he is," Abby winked at him, "like when we pretended you were a vampire last night Timmy"

With that she finally got the drawer open and Tim blushed.

"Abby…"

"And what a vampire we made out of you…" she continued, searching the now open drawer for the remaining chocolates from the previous day. "honestly, I wasn't sure you had it in ya but when you finally caught on and you got over that whole "am I not hurting you now?" thing-"

"Abby…!"

"Aha! Found them!" she took the bag from the drawer and looked up at McGee. He gestured for her to stand up with wild hand movements, throwing his hands here and there. She shook her head and was just about to tell him that they needed a cooler sign for when someone was coming when she heard the "ding" of the elevator as the doors opened. McGee's eyes widened and Abby shot up from behind the desk, knocking over a cup of pens on her way. The pens scattering to the ground startled Tim and he swayed as a giggling Abby bumped in to him as well on her way up. McGee had to grab the nearest thing as he though he was about to fall and that thing happened to be the Goth who stood giggling, in front of him. She yelped as she found herself supporting the weight of a McGee without balance. In a matter of half a second both Abby and McGee found themselves on the floor behind Tony's desk again, this time in some sort of a pile.

Kate walked into the office with her head filled with that fog again. The little circus thing McGee and Abby had going behind Tony's desk seemed to be a thousand miles away and she only caught it in the corner of her eye as she made it over to her desk. She wanted to change out of the used dress and was happy she kept clothes in her desk. She was also happy that the only two in the office seemed to be Abby and McGee who was now trying to untangle themselves from each other.

She gathered fresh clothes in her arms and bit her lip not to wince with pain as she hurried to the bathroom to change.

Abby couldn't stop laughing at the floor but was surprised to find Kate gone when she peeked her head over the edge of the desk, her ponytails all rumpled.

"Where'd she go?" Abby asked, lightly tapping McGee's butt, which was the part of him that was nearest.

He got up from the floor with a groan and turned so that he too, was poking his head above the edge of the desk. He looked around the room. "I don't know…" He was sure she'd been there when Abby and him came crashing down together. They looked at each other and shrugged.

The elevator opened up again and Gibbs and Tony walked out. Tony's eyes widened and he hurried towards his desk. "Probie… what do you think you're up to at my desk!"

Abby sprung from her knees on the floor to her feet with an excited "Iiiih" and with Maltesers in hand, ran for the elevator.

Tony looked from McGee still on the floor behind his desk to Abby running across the room with his chocolates in hand. He decided that probie could wait and darted after Abby.

"Abbs you little devil… come back here!"

She poked her tongue out at him in true Kate style as the doors of the elevator closed just in front of his nose. He ran towards the stairs and crashed down taking three steps at a time.

Gibbs took a big zip of his coffee and sighed as he heard Tony all the way down the stairs; "Aaaaaabby!" They were just playing around with each other but it was a very serious game.

Gibbs felt his cup getting lighter. _I should start buying two of these at a time_, he thought and sat down at his desk. He shifted his gaze towards McGee that was still sitting on his knees behind Tony's desk, chin resting on the top of the desk.

Gibbs tilted his head, slightly. "Are you planning on sitting there all day, midget-boy?"

"Boss… I… erm… eh… Abby was-"

"Get your ass back to your own desk McGee!" Gibbs barked just as his phone rang.

McGee scrambled to his desk as Kate came back, changed, from the bathroom. She made her way over to her desk, careful not to look to unsteady in front of Gibbs. She could still feel that pain in her side but was determined to hide it as long as she possibly could.

The elevator doors opened again and revealed a frustrated Tony. "How can she hide in that little lab?"

Abby sneaked up the last steps of the stairs and grinned at McGee, throwing a piece of Tony's chocolates in her mouth. "Tonight McGee, I'll be the vampire and you can be the damsel in distress" She called to him.

McGee did his best to hide behind his computer, blushing a deep red. Kate rested her forehead in her hand, her head starting to spin with all of the teasing and running around going on around her and Tony's eyes widened again as he heard Abby's voice. He threw himself out of the elevator just as Abby with a squeal dashed down the stairs again.

Gibbs ended his call. "I'm running a day-care here" he muttered under his breath as he wrote down an address. He cleared his throat and spoke without lifting his eyes from the file in front of him.

"Kate, I'm heading upstairs. I want Tony and you to work on those files you were supposed to go through yesterday while I'm gone." The annoyance was clear in his voice and Kate just nodded. She did not have the energy to fetch Tony from the lab… she'd just have to start without him.

Gibbs ordered McGee to fix his cell phone that he'd "accidentally" thrown in the wall after receiving a txt message. McGee looked at him, confused.

"Apparently the message came with a very annoying high pitch noise!" Gibbs explained as he started to climb the stairs.

OOoOoOooooOOooOOOoOOoOOOooOOOoO

Tony balanced one of Gibbs' coffee mugs on his head.

"Kate! Look Kate!" He even managed to balance it, standing, on one foot. He tried his other foot.

"Kate, check this out!" He desperately wanted her attention.

"Tony I'm busy" she answered, not even lifting her eyes from her work.

"But Kate you have to see this! It's taken me…" He checked his watch, coffee mug still on his head. ", exactly 2 minutes and 24 seconds to learn how to do this!" he recalled excitedly.

"Tony I'm working here. I don't have the time. Told you I was busy." She still didn't look at him and was determined not to give him any attention today and made sure by her tone of voice that he knew that. She wanted to check up on Mitchell in their database but Gibbs was not going to be out of the office all day and he wanted them to go through those files before he came back… She needed to do her part of the work so that she could find out what she wanted about Mitchell after that.

Tony pouted, looking, and feeling like an abandoned puppy. Now she was just being mean. She always gave him attention. She was always there when he wanted to throw paper clips at someone or brag about his blond bimbos. But not today… _She was like this yesterday as well_, he thought as he scrunched up his face to keep the pen under his nose to stay there.

Balancing the coffee cup on his head and keeping a pen stuck between his nose and upper lip had seemed like a challenge at first but it turned out to be pretty easy… _for a pro, for someone with natural talent_, he grinned at himself letting the pen fall to the floor. _Oh yeah… I bet it'd take Probie months to learn how to do all of this at once. _He picked the pen up from the floor and did it all over again… cup on his head and pen under his nose.

Just like Kate had predicted Gibbs soon came back. With a fresh cup of coffee in hand he looked a little bit less annoyed but something still seemed to bother him.

"Three years ago we handled a case with a dead marine found in Rock Creek Park. One of the gardeners working in the park came forward that time and the case was solved because of his testimony." Gibbs handed out copies of the file. "The thing is, now, the same gardener wants to change his story. He's no longer sure he saw what he then claimed he saw. I think he's been spooked into this and I need you to go see him," He looked at Tony, who practically bounced up and down with excitement, and then at Kate. ", and find out if there's any truth to this or if someone's telling him to change his mind."

OoOoOOoOOoOOoOOOoOoOOooOOoO

Kate wasn't sure if she was happy or not to be out of the office, as she sat in the car with Tony. She didn't have to think about it for long though because as soon as Tony started to sing along with the song played on the radio she decided that she was _not _happy to be out of the office.

The air seemed a bit stuffy in the car and the warming sun did not ease the fog in her head. It was as if someone had placed a greyish blanket over the entire world… everything was damp and corny to her. Her ribs protested as she moved and she thought the painkillers might be wearing off. _I need to take a couple of new ones once we get back_, she thought, regretting that she didn't take any with her.

Tony glanced at her and thought that she must be coming down with something. _She doesn't look too good_, he thought, _she looks a bit pale. I can't say something, can I? She'll bite my head off…_ he decided.

We all know that Tony has a bit of a problem with authority, and that includes listening to himself.

"Kate, you-"

_.:Baby all I'm trying to say  
Is that my heart is here to hold you  
I'm never far away:._

"No, Tony. Be quiet, just shut up" she snapped, looking out her window, trying to forget about the pain in her side and her throbbing head.

_Just like that…_ Tony thought. _Well… I'll be quiet now… I will… Wow being quiet is hard!_

_.:Take my hand so I can feel you  
I've searched and I have found  
I'll never let you down  
We will always stand on solid ground:._

A few seconds passed and Tony suddenly had a look of panic on his face. _What if I can't talk anymore? What if I've been quiet for so long that I've forgotten how to speak?_ He considered life as a mute for a second or two before letting out a "Bedroom". He grinned at himself. _I still know how to do it! _

Kate finally glanced his way, a look on her face that indicated that she now was sure he'd lost his mind completely.

"Bedroom?" She questioned, sceptically.

He grinned at her, relived that she'd finally paid him some attention and happy that she'd just said something… anything at all. The all quiet, snapping, Kate had started to make him uncomfortable, a feeling that Tony wasn't all that familiar with.

"I wanted to see if I still had the ability to speak and 'bedroom' was the first word that came into my mind"

"Of course it was…" Kate muttered, once again looking through the window, trying to ignore Tony.

OOoOoOooOoOOooOoOOOoOoooOOoOOOO

The second they'd stepped out of the car Kate had known that the rising heat would cause her problems. The sun seemed to be burning her and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself after struggling out of the car, trying not to move too much_. I definitely need more of those painkillers_, she thought as she watched Tony stride into the park, _and we need one of those treadmill things for Ginny pigs in Tony-size at work… _

They met up with Nat the Gardener just as they entered the park.

"Agent DiNozzo, Todd, NCIS" Tony flashed his badge at the man.

"I've been expecting you" the man said and turned around, returning into the park. Tony followed and stepped up next to him.

"So…" Tony took out his pad and a pen, to take notes. ", you think you have new information concerning this case?"

Kate tried to clear her throat, feeling a bit short of breath. It didn't work and she gasped for air. She slowed down her already slow pace and fell quite a bit behind the two men.

They walked around a small house built out of bricks where she figured the gardeners stored their tools or something. Her knees felt like jelly all of a sudden and she felt the panic rise in her together with the pain exploding in her side.

"T-Tony…" she tried, her voice shaking slightly with pain. She supported herself against the brick wall.

She was passed by a jogger and a mother with a stroller who looked at her wondering, before disappearing around the corner.

"Not now Kate, I'm busy" Tony didn't turn her way, using Kate's own words from earlier.

_Two can play this game_, thought Tony as he continued his walk, his back towards Kate, along the path together with Nat the Gardener.

"…and this man, he's not the same man you first thought it was?" he asked.

"T-Tony…!" Her voice was faint, and the wall behind her back was now all that kept her standing.

Tony stopped and sighed, still not turning around. "I'm working here!" he repeated what she'd told him earlier.

_I'm going to kill him for pulling this crap this when this is all over_, Kate thought, her head spinning. She could hardly see him in front of her anymore as she fought the urge to scream out loud. She figured she didn't have the energy to actually fill her lungs with enough air anyways and she tried once more to get Tony to turn around.

_.:Sometimes life it drags you down  
And plays you like a fool  
Makes you feel so empty sometimes  
It can be so cruel:._

"Please…" darkness consumed her as the pain and her spinning head took over. The ground came up to meet her as she slumped down with a weak cry.

Nat stood opposite Tony, facing Kate. His eyes grew wide as the female agent fell to the ground with a thud, catching his attention. He pointed towards her.

"Y-your.. p-partner…"

Tony frowned, confused and turned around.

_.:So follow me home  
You'll never be lost  
We'll weather the storm  
Whatever the cost  
I won't walk away  
I'll stand by your side  
I'm here for you  
The rest of our lives:._

"What the…" he muttered, running back towards her. "Kate?" he called. She didn't move and Tony felt as if he was running in slow motion. They we're only a couple of meters apart; to Tony it felt like mile after mile.

"KATE!"

_"I'll never let you down"_ echoed in his head as he threw himself on his knees next to her on the ground.

"KATE!" He screamed at her even though her face now was inches from his.

_.:I'll never let you down…_

_I won't walk away_  
_I'll stand by your side  
I'm here for you  
The rest of our lives:._

OoOoOoOOoOoOOooOOOoOOOoOOOoOooOo

Tony, Tony, Tony… look at what you have done…

And as for the title of this chapter, The Act Of a Fool… well… you decide who's the fool :P

If you're interested in actually listening to Sugababes' Follow Me Home you can do it at YouTube but like I said earlier, I don't think you need to know the song to appreciate the lyrics in this chapter.

I reintroduced the Maltesers :) , great, huh? You can never get too much chocolate, if you ask me, and that goes for every occasion and situation and all of my EF-leaders (you know EF, they send young people on language courses..?) agree.

A tiny, tiny bit of McAbby in there if you squint :P Working on that.

I hope you liked this chapter. It was fun to write, actually. Haha and I thought I should mention that we get NCIS five times a week in Sweden these days (it used to be only_ four_ times a week) . I feel spoiled.

Thanks for reading, as usual, feel free to let me know anything and everything in a review.

/Malin


	4. We'll Weather The Storm

**Disclaimer: **I still do not own NCIS or it's characters. I don't even own this laptop; it belongs to the Mayor of my city… (I'll give it back to her when she asks me to… maybe).

**A/N:** I'm sorry I haven't updated until now. School's been terribly busy this last week (May is always like this with all of the grades being set and all) and then there's the Eurovision Song Contest, which is a HUGE thing in Sweden and has always been a big deal. To us it's like this national festival that starts in February and comes to an end this weekend with the big finale. On top of the usual obsession, we now happened to have Carola as our contestant this year and she's like a national hero and a really famous person when it comes to ESC. I'm not a fan of hers but many, many people are. Finland won this year (the finale was held last night), which is a bit funny 'cause they always come in last. I really liked Russia's song so their guy should have won if you ask me.

Yes, NCIS 5 times a week here in Sweden and no, it's not reruns. Not after this Sunday at least. I had totally repressed the whole _Twilight _thing until they aired it on Wednesday… It's on really late here, after midnight, and well… sleep is not something I prioritise but that night between Wednesday and Thursday I got about 2 hours of sleep 'cause I was up all night crying my eyes out. My whole body hurt and then they aired _Kill Ari pt 1_ last night and I cried like a baby again for the whole episode. My mum's starting to worry about me and my friends think I'm crazy. They're like "But it's only a character!" It's not! It's Kate dying! And it's not only Kate the agent and person it's TATE the phenomenon! I'll soon repress the whole thing again but for now it's a bit too close and too real. On Access (the place on the net in Sweden where we meet and discuss tv) we got together and cried and hated. We hated Ari for killing Kate, we hated Sasha for wanting out, we hated Ziva for… well being Ziva, we hated Tony for being splattered with her blood and not getting together with her when he had the chance and we hated Gibbs for brining her up on that rooftop. We basically hated everyone.

Now it's time for some love again though… and some pain : ) Really cool that you're still with me on this one. Love your reviews.

**Through Troubled Nights Chapter 4: We'll Weather The Storm**

To Tony, everything around the two of them seemed to be spinning. A storm of voices and colors whirled around him. Far, far away he could hear Nat calling… he couldn't bring himself to find out what he wanted. He was busy.

With trembling fingers he searched for a pulse. He was relieved to find one. Bending down so that his cheek was inches from her mouth he was glad to feel her warm breath on his face. He pushed her hair out of her face and placed her head in his lap. _Kate, open your eyes… don't do this to me!_

He took a couple of deep breaths to clear his mind. He focused hard to make the world around him stop spinning. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket to call an ambulance and squinted to separate all of the colors still swirling in front of his eyes.

After making sure that an ambulance would come and having his surroundings back to the way they should be he frantically looked around for witnesses.

"Did anyone see what happened to her?" he called out. "Did someone hit her? Was she attacked?" He was desperate. He wanted a reason for this collapse, and he wanted it badly_. I looked away… I looked away and now I don't know what happened. _He cursed himself for not listening to her when she tried to get his attention.

A young man with a dog stepped forward. He cleared his throat and tried to bring the scared and frustrated man on the ground back from whatever world he mentally was in.

"She just collapsed, sir. You came around the corner… she… she just collapsed. No one attacked her. Is she going to be alright?"

Tony's eyes darted from the young man back to Kate. _Just collapsed, it isn't possible, _he thought running his hands hard over his face.

_She snapped at me in the car, just like she always does. She made it pretty clear that I was annoying, obnoxious… me, just like any other day. Sure she was a bit pale and maybe a bit tired but…_ He stopped. He couldn't convince himself that it was okay for him to have missed this. There was no excuse for letting his partner down.

_Gibbs_, Tony thought, _will kick my ass across the state for this… and if he won't, then I'll just do it myself. _

Nat the gardener would have to wait.

OoOoOoOoooOOoOoOOoOoOoOooOOooOOooOO

Back in the park, keeping track of what happened around him had been hard, but at the hospital Tony was aware of every word spoken and every movement made around him.

Someone observing him would probably doubt that though. They would see a young stressed man, with ruined Armani trousers, tousled hair and a look of wildness in his eyes. He looked as if he was on a mission and would bring the entire world down with him if he had to. Observant and alert wasn't really words that would come in mind.

He paced the waiting area, knowing that if he sat down or stopped he wouldn't be able to start moving again, ever. He felt completely drained of energy and all he knew was that he had to stay on his feet and that he couldn't let her down. He couldn't leave her_. I totally forgive her for lying to me about her being infected with the plague that time…_ he thought knowing why she stayed with him that night.

The paramedics had told him that she wasn't dying, they just couldn't figure out why she'd collapsed. The nurse that had showed him where to wait had also told him that Kate's condition did not seem critical but all the running around, weird noises and strained voices told him that he shouldn't trust that verdict.

He wasn't sure where Kate was, exactly, and he hated himself for that. "Nice going Tony," he muttered under his breath, "you promise not to leave her and not to let her down again and you lose her!"

He sighed and picked up his pace a little. He wasn't sure why he felt like this. Why was she his whole world all of a sudden? Had she always been his whole world without him realizing it? _No I've realized it alright… a long time ago_, he thought with a loud sigh, _but I also realized that day that she'd kill me if I told her. Of course she wouldn't feel the same about me, always trying to tick her off and embarrass her, and she'd feel uncomfortable around the office and transfer…_

A nurse in a rush excused herself and hurried past him, pushing him aside gently. He spun around trying to understand what was happening. Doors down the long hall opened and closed… people entered and exited. No sign of Kate anywhere.

His feet hurt, his whole body hurt and he was just about to give up the pacing and just sit down in one of the white, very uncomfortable looking, plastic chairs when raised voices could be heard. Angry raised voices. Tony crashed to a halt, almost knocking over the flower arrangement in the big vase on the floor. He knew that angry, raised voice anywhere. If it was one angry, raised voice he truly knew, this was the one!

"Kate!" The name came flying out of his mouth without him actually deciding on calling out for her. A doctor that looked to be in his mid 50's exited the room down the hall with a strained and tired look on his face. He looked over the chart in his hand, walking towards Tony.

He knew his hospital and didn't mind lifting his eyes from his papers as he walked down the hall and entered the waiting area. He flipped through his papers and found what he was looking for, now all he had to do was- There was a pair of feet down there on the floor. He frowned. Not his own feet. He took a step to his right and the second pair of feet did the same. The doctor lowered his chart and followed the legs that were connected to the feet in front of him until his gaze landed on the face of a man.

Tony looked expectantly at the older doctor.

The doctor tilted his head slightly and looked back at Tony. "Yes?" He realized that he was probably a bit rude to the young obviously stressed man but he felt a bit stressed himself and things were not going too well with his patient at the moment.

Tony gestured towards the room that the doctor had exited. "Was that my partner? What's happening?"

"You're here for miss Todd?" The doctor looked almost hopeful.

"I'm on her contact sheet…" Tony said, leaning towards the doctor trying to get a better view of the chart in his hand. He found his name and number and pointed at it. He lifted his gaze from the paper and tried to see what was happening behind the doctor.

"You're Mr DiNozzo?"

"Special Agent DiNozzo," Tony showed the doctor his badge, "and that chart belongs to Special Agent Todd, my partner."

As the doctor reached out to shake his hand, Tony accepted.

"I'm Doctor Holland. I was just about to call… well as it turns out, you. I left a nurse with Agent Todd, she's a bit… angry at the moment"

Tony's face lit up. He'd been right.

"So she's alright then?" He asked hopeful. "Pissed and all I mean…"

Doctor Holland cleared his throat. "Agent DiNozzo… has your job required Agent Todd to fight someone recently, as in the last 24, maybe 48 hours?"

Tony grinned. "She's constantly fighting with me but-" Tony cut himself short as he watched Doctor Holland's expression. "You mean physically beat the crap out of someone?"

"I wouldn't put it like that and it seems more like Agent Todd was the one being beat up…" Doctor Holland watched Tony, waiting for the young Agent to tell him something useful. Nothing came. The Agent in front of him seemed lost in thought.

After a few seconds Tony realized that he should say something.

"She can take care of herself just fine on the job Doctor" _What the…? Beat up? In the last 48 hours? When? How?_, a thousand questions raced though his head together with the big one, _"WHO?"_

Doctor Holland sighed. "That confirms my theory. I don't believe that her injuries were caused in the line of duty. I've seen many patients like her over the years. Way too many."

"Patients like what?" Tony asked confused.

"I'd say Agent Todd has been exposed to domestic violence. Then again, her fear of letting me getting close enough to examine her since the second she regained consciousness points towards her being attacked by someone she doesn't know. I'm having a female colleague do a rape kit as we speak, Agent Todd wouldn't let me do it."

Tony really felt like sitting down now. As a fact, he wasn't even sure he could feel his legs under him anymore. He blinked a couple of times…

Doctor Holland placed a hand on Tony's upper arm to steady him. "Why don't we take a seat…?" He led Tony over to the chairs. Tony nodded, his legs still numb.

"S-She was… r-raped?" Tony felt the word suck his air from his lungs and he choked on the word.

"We don't know yet."

Tony looked at the doctor. "I haven't seen any bruises… anything…" He was confused and shocked. Tony hated being confused and he hated the feeling of shock. At that moment he hated most things actually. He hated the hospital for leaving him without information for so long and then just throw everything in his face. He hated Kate for not telling him she was hurt and he hated himself for not pushing her in to telling him what was going on.

"Her attacker has made sure to leave her hands and face without bruises… The main damage has been made to her upper arms, back and chest. We're taking her up for x-rays as soon as the rape kit's done. I want to make sure she doesn't have any cracked ribs. This kind of assault is common. This method is what makes me consider and even suspect domestic violence… but then again she's very nervous, scared even, around us male doctors and even male nurses… To be honest with you Agent DiNozzo I'm not sure what to think about this one…"

Tony felt sick to his stomach. He didn't want to hear about this but knew that he had to.

"Scared?" Tony asked. "Kate is a proud woman… she doesn't like others to see her weak. Are you sure she's just not feeling exposed? She sounded pretty angry to me when you left her." _If Kate knew I'm sitting here evaluating her personality she'd punch me! …and if she'd come out and punch me I'd kiss her for not dying on me… Wow, I need to focus. _

Tony pulled himself from his own thoughts hoping that the doctor hadn't said anything that he'd missed.

"You probably know her better than I do but I've seen this before Agent DiNozzo. Does she live with anyone? Husband? Boyfriend?"

Tony shook his head. "No, she's not married and she lives on her own as far as I know."

Doctor Holland looked puzzled. "You're not sure? I thought you were close to her…?"

"I am… sort of… I mean we work together and we…" Tony realized that he couldn't explain his relation to Kate… not even to himself. What were they? "She's a private person… but I think she'd let me know if she was moving in with someone."

Doctor Holland took notes. His eyes didn't leave his paper. "What about boyfriend, is she seeing someone?"

Tony winced. He knew these questions would come. He didn't have a clue whether she saw someone at the moment or not. He felt like crying as he realized that he hardly knew Kate at all. _I'm a lousy contact person. I can't let the doctor think that though… I need him to understand why I need to stick around! Why Kate needs me…_

"Look I… I… I love her. I love her, I really do but I don't know. She doesn't really tell me about these kinds of things. She hits me, she tells me I'm a moron and when I throw things at her… she throws back!" Tony looked at Doctor Holland hopeful. He wanted the man to understand… He even wanted himself to understand. He realized that it probably sounded crazy but it was the best way to explain it.

Doctor Holland sighed and stood. He wasn't really getting anywhere and he wasn't sure Agent DiNozzo's mind worked the way it should right now. _The poor man must be worried out of his mind_, the Doctor thought. _I'll ask him again later…_

The doctor excused himself and left. Tony was left all alone in the room again. He sat there in the chair, his legs numb and his head ready to explode.

"Tony!" Gibbs barked as he, walking through the door, recognized his agent in one of the plastic chairs.

As in a daze Tony turned around hardly recognizing his boss. He knew that he should probably stand up but he seemed to have misplaced his legs. Tony had called Gibbs' cell in the ambulance, leaving him a message. He'd totally forgotten about it until now.

Gibbs was accompanied by McGee, Ducky and Abby but Tony didn't notice. Gibbs looked around the room, frantically, wanting to find someone who could explain what Kate did in the hospital and why Tony seemed to have lost both the ability to speak and move since he last saw him this morning.

Tony was startled as he felt to small hands on his shoulders.

"You okay?" Abby asked searching for his eyes.

Tony started out by nodding but decided against it in the last moment and shook his head instead but the motion ended up more as a shrug… or… Abby frowned. She really didn't know what he meant.

Gibbs sat down next to Tony and Abby backed up.

"What happened DiNozzo?"

Tony thought about it… what happened…?

"Tony!" Gibbs yelled at him again, desperate to get an answer, a word, something out of his agent.

"I don't know. I had my back to her Boss. I don't know what happened."

"You had your back to her? I leave her with you for, what, an hour and you don't know what happened to her in that hour?" His tone was less angry now but it was far from calm.

_When he puts it like that it just sounds crazy_, Tony thought closing his eyes for a moment.

"It wasn't like that" he opened his eyes again.

"What was it like then Tony?" Gibbs barked clearly frustrated.

"We… we just played around. You know trying to push each others buttons. She'd ignore me when I wanted something so I ignored her…"

Gibbs sighed.

"I knew this day would come…"

"What day?" Tony asked.

"The day yours and Todd's bickering and bantering would put one of you in the hospital. I just always thought it'd be you." Gibbs gave Tony a small smile. Tony looked at him.

"Me?"

"I figured Kate would just snap and finally shoot your ass"

"The night's still young" Tony grinned, feeling a bit better.

"Would have to be some other day" came a small voice to their left. Kate leaned against the wall buttoning up the last buttons on her blouse. "They took my gun. Apparently patients being armed is against hospital policy"

"Kate!" Abby squealed bouncing up and down. She desperately wanted to hug her friend but decided to find out what was wrong with her first. "What happened?"

Gibbs made his way over to her and Ducky greeted her with a "Caitlin, dear, you had us terribly worried!"

McGee placed himself next to Abby glancing towards Tony, who was still seated clearly in shock after hearing Kate speak. Kate followed his gaze.

"I can't believe you're all here… It's not like I was shot," she said without taking her eyes off of Tony.

"Well if you look at the condition Tony's in, that could easily have been the case" McGee said.

Ducky saw Doctor Holland hiding in the background and decided to talk to him about Kate's condition. Gibbs followed him.

McGee took Abby's hand in his. "Why don't we get Kate… and Tony," he glanced towards the pale man in the chair "something from the cafeteria?"

Abby nodded. "We'll be right back Kate" She called as her and McGee walked down the hall.

Kate nodded and turned to Tony.

She winced, obviously in pain, as she took a seat next to him. He looked at her, a look of concern in his eyes. She ignored it. She was more concerned about him.

"Flirted with any of the nurses yet?" she asked in a light voice reaching out, touching his cheek. He locked eyes with her.

"Not yet" he gave her a small smile that soon faltered. "You should have told me…"

Kate let her hand slip from his cheek and placed both of her hands on her lap. He was hurt.

"I'm fine Tony…" she tried.

"No you're not!" Tony snapped. She flinched at his tone and he regretted the anger. He took a breath to calm himself. "Who's doing this to you?" He asked.

She looked a bit panicked and her eyes widened. "I… I…" She caught herself just as she was about to tell one of the worlds most famous lies: I fell down the stairs. She'd seen so many other women do that and she'd always considered it pathetic and obviously not true. "It doesn't matter Tony"

He looked at her as if she was crazy. _Doesn't matter? What is she, insane?_

"It matters Kate! It matters to me, it matters to Gibbs… it matters to us all"

She shook her head placing one of her trembling hands in his. "I want to go home and forget about this now… please Tony"

He felt cold inside. He felt like he wanted to scream and shout. _Maybe throw one of these plastic chairs through a window_, he thought. She wasn't ever supposed to have to say "please Tony" like that. Like she was about to break, like she wanted to cry. "Please Tony" was supposed to be for when he took pictures of her ass at a crime scene or when he ate her lunch. "Please Tony" was supposed to mean, "stop it, or I'll shoot you"…

"I'm not sure we can leave Kate. What about the rape kit?"

She looked away… and just stared at something at the wall in front of them. Something invisible.

"I know what happened to me Tony and I wasn't raped." She swallowed hard and felt Tony squeeze her hand.

He was a little relived. Sure she could be lying to him but just hearing her saying that she knew what had happened to her eased his mind a bit. That was the Kate he knew.

"Kate" Gibbs and Ducky had returned and Gibbs looked pissed.

Kate and Tony looked at him. She clung to Tony's hand.

Gibbs was really angry and Kate knew he probably wasn't angry with her but it still scared her.

"Yes?"

OoOoOOoOoooOoOOoOOooOoooOOOOoOOOoo

What happens next? Will Kate tell them what happened? That sure wouldn't make Mitchell happy…

Again, sorry for the delay. I'm working on making the chapters longer and I'll be able to update more frequently when this stupid month is over. May is hell. I have this big thing that's due tomorrow and I'm not done with it :S so I'm off to finish that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it was slow. I do watch ER but that doesn't really mean that I'm an expert when it comes to the medical stuff. Just play along, would ya:P

Really frustrated with this site at the moment. Is it just me or is being… well hinky right now? In Swedish I'd say "Jag anar ugglor i mossen"… haha no I wouldn't but someone a bit older than me might have considered putting it like that. I'll stop babbling now since you guys can't understand me and my Scandinavian language anyways…

Thanks for reading. You know I love to hear you speculate (and tell me other things as well) in reviews ;)

/Malin


	5. Believe In The Dream Of Us

**Congratulations Sasha to your baby daughter Lucia Sofia born on May 12. **

**Disclaimer:** I've looked everywhere; under my bed, in my closet and behind my TV. The cast and crew from NCIS are nowhere to be found. I guess I don't own them today either. Bummer!

**A/N:** Thank you so much for all of your wonderful and inspiring reviews! I love you guys!

There should be a bit more action and things happening in this chapter, don't let the slow (sometimes our dear special agents need time to reflect and… deal with their feelings, yes even Gibbs) first part fool you… But I don't want to rush it by trying to stick as much action in there as possible, feelings and thoughts are a big part of this as well and… well I enjoy getting inside their heads :)

This chapter is dedicated to Julian at my local McDonalds who managed to blow up the Ice Cream machine this morning. I'm not kidding… have you ever seen a McDonalds employee covered in Ice Cream? Not pretty. At 10 me and my mates always get a McFlurry for breakfast but not this morning. Julian offered me a milkshake instead before he realised that he would need the ice cream machine for that as well… clever!

**Through Troubled Nights Chapter 5: Believe In The Dream Of Us**

As Gibbs sat down opposite of his agents Tony stiffened and Kate felt him retreat his hand from hers. She glanced towards him wondering what was wrong. He sat there next to her, holding his breath wringing his hands together nervously. He wanted to slap himself up the back of his head for even considering worrying about rule #12 at a time like this but the last thing he wanted to do right now was cause Kate trouble with the Boss. _She doesn't need that right now_, he thought fighting back the urge to yell at Gibbs for interrupting them. He wasn't sure of why Gibbs was using such a harsh tone towards Kate and wanted to at least rule out them holding hands as the reason.

Kate shifted in her chair trying really hard not to show any kind of emotion. Not towards Tony and her now cold and lonely hand that lay limp in her lap, not towards Ducky who stood uncharacteristically quiet next to the doctor that had, at least tried to, treat her earlier and not to Gibbs who looked at her with a mixture of anger, frustration and affection in his eyes.

Kate was going to stay in control of this situation. She'd never let Gibbs' glares or Tony's insecurities get in her way or put her down before and she wasn't going to let that happen this time either. _I lost control that night with Mitchell and look what good that did me_, she thought sourly waiting for Gibbs to continue yelling at her.

Gibbs' eyes shifted from Kate's face to Tony's balled fists for just a second. Their affectionate moment earlier had not gone unnoticed by Gibbs but he knew both of his agents. He knew Tony and he knew Kate and seeing Tony dropping her hand the second he approached them did not surprise him, but it angered him_. Damn it DiNozzo! This is not a good time to obey my rules…_ Gibbs sighed, once again settling his gaze upon Kate's pale face.

He would have taken her frail hands in his own if he'd thought it would have helped. He did not believe that to be the case. He cared deeply for her, he did, but he knew that the kind of support that Tony could offer Kate right now, he himself could not get close to.

He cleared his throat and did not even notice Abby and McGee coming back with a bottle of water and two cups of coffee. Upon seeing the look on Gibbs' face and Tony staring in to space, obviously trying to block out what was happening around him, the pair stopped in their tracks not wanting to get in the middle of what was going on.

"You okay Kate?" His tone held non of that anger and frustration that his eyes held and Tony felt himself release the air he'd been holding in his lungs.

Kate eyed Gibbs suspiciously. What was this? She knew he'd be as worried about her as anyone else and that he cared for her much like a father cares for his daughter but she hadn't expected his tone to be so calm and soft. Calm and soft was not words easily associated with their boss.

She nodded. She couldn't find words for how she truly felt and his choice, 'okay' seemed like a choice as good as any and besides, it would probably and hopefully get her off the hook faster than "No, I feel like crap" or "I've been molested and ending it all with a couple too many sleeping pills sounds good to me"… yeah. She'd go with the option offered by her boss.

"I'm okay"

Ducky lightly patted Gibbs' shoulder as if saying "I'm proud over how you're handling this". Even Ducky was a bit surprised at Gibbs' serene and almost sweet tone.

"According to your doctor you weren't okay in there" he gestured towards the room down the hall where she'd been examined earlier, his tone still steady and calm. He wanted her to actually talk to him about this, even though he knew she probably wouldn't want to.

"Well I'm not in there anymore, am I?" She held her head high and she felt some colour return to her pale cheeks with the cocky comeback. She could feel Tony peering at her from where he sat to her left. Maybe she would be able to find her way back to herself after all?

Gibbs ran his hands over his face. He looked tired.

"I'm not sure you being out here instead of in there is a good thing though, Kate." He braced himself. He knew she wouldn't like this.

_Bastard… If only he knew about…_ she let her mind wander and flashes and fragments of memories from her night in Mitchell's apartment came back to her together with the headache she had earlier and nausea. She felt the Polaroid of her sister and niece burn in her pocket.

"I'm not doing this!" she blurted out, her voice cracking with emotion, as she felt the walls close in on her again. She suddenly felt as if there was no air left in the room to breathe. Recalling how Tony had held his breath, until she thought he'd turn purple, earlier, she was sure it at least wasn't his fault. She sprung to her feet, a weak cry of pain escaping her dry lips as her brain and balance had no time to catch up with her. Her legs buckled underneath her the second she shifted her weight to them.

McGee who had been inching closer to them threw himself towards her and just as Tony and Gibbs both scrambled to their feet, they saw McGee catch her, a firm grip on her upper arms just as she was about to fall to the floor.

The gesture was one of concern and he wanted to help her out as he realized what was about to happen… he hadn't counted on her upper arms being as bruised and sore as they were though. How was he supposed to know? She'd refused to tell them about her injuries.

Caitlin Todd let her tears fall freely down her cheeks as she whimpered in pain. Tim realized that he was causing her pain and wide-eyed lowered her to the floor.

He mumbled and stuttered out some kind of apology with a look of panic in his eyes.

As Kate felt her spine against the cold and solid floor and the pressure on her arms being released she gasped for air, desperate to fill her lungs with something, anything. For the first time since the incident with Mitchell she found her head empty. She didn't remember anything, she didn't worry about a thing. Not a single thought seemed to occupy her mind at that moment. With another gasp she felt as her whole body was filled with oxygen, not only her lungs. Her entire body seemed to be light as a feather to her there on the floor and she blinked the tears away realizing that all she had to do to get rid of the worst pain was relax.

The four men and Abby stood in a circle around her as Kate was determined not to move a single muscle. Doctor Holland came running from down the hall but Kate couldn't care less. She still felt uncomfortable around him but lying there on the floor with her entire NCIS family standing around her she forced the uneasy feeling away.

He bent down towards her about to help her up and call for a nurse when she firmly told him "No, I just needed to take a few minutes on the floor… to catch up with this days events and all".

Gibbs wanted to cry. He wasn't sure about how much more of this he could take. He scratched the back of his head contemplating the idea of this all just being a bad dream.

McGee still had this guilty look on his face after having Abby hit him on the arm for hurting Kate even more and Tony stood next to Ducky his eyebrows raised not sure what to think and do. Ducky's eyes were filled with concern but he gave the shocked doctor a small smile. _I never sleep so I guess that's not it after all… _

"She won't stay here." Ducky said, extending a hand to Kate.

All she needed was for her head and lungs to catch up with her body. She needed to feel the solid floor under her to feel safe again. It was there under her. It didn't shift or tilt and it was okay to fall. The floor would be there to catch her. Tony reached down and extended a hand as well. She grabbed his hand in her left hand and Ducky's in her right and closed her eyes to push away the pain in her side as she felt herself being lifted to a standing position.

She gave them a small, shaky smile. "Thanks guys… I'll be alright,"

No one in the room looked as if they believed her.

"Really" she tried to reassure them. Neither Ducky or Tony let go of the hand they held in theirs.

Gibbs turned to Doctor Holland. "You're sure her ribs are going to be okay?"

Kate shot Gibbs an angry look and Tony turned to look at her, his eyes wide.

"Boss?" he asked, gaze fixed on Kate who did her best to ignore the glare.

"Shut up DiNozzo. Doctor? Her ribs?"

"Banged up and bruised but fortunately not broken or cracked." Doctor Holland, clearly not happy with how this day had unfolded shifted his brown eyes from Gibbs to his patient. "Agent Todd was lucky" he continued.

The room fell silent as Kate felt Tony lightly squeeze her hand in his again. Ducky released her hand and it fell to her side as she leaned towards Tony. He stiffened, not sure what to expect. She had to stand on her toes to get tall enough to be able to whisper in his ear.

"If you're going to drop my hand again… do it now"

There was so much more to it and Tony knew that. He could hear every emotion behind every syllable as she spoke and he knew that this was not only about holding her hand. He swallowed. Still not moving his eyes, he intertwined his fingers with hers.

"I won't" he said, loud and clear making Abby, McGee and the others look at him funnily.

Kate smiled and their eyes met in what felt like the first time in years. They stared into each others eyes and Kate felt the world around her disappear as she just for a second let every thing she felt, every pain and every memory show in her eyes. Like a flash of darkness in her eyes she opened up her soul and her heart to him. Right there, right then at that exact moment she was completely his.

His chest felt tight and he sucked in a breath, gasping much like Kate had done on the floor earlier. Kate tore her eyes from his as she felt herself shudder. She had fought so hard for such a long time to build up that wall that she'd just let down. She had given him every inch of herself for just a second and it had left her exhausted. Tony felt his chest rise and fall with every breath and shifted his eyes to Gibbs who stood, watching them. Tony knew that their spell was broken for now… but it didn't matter because she'd let him in and he knew that she was strong and brave enough to do it again. _I just have to earn it_, he thought feeling slightly guilty over the fact that he felt a bit tingly holding her hand in his. _She doesn't need me to act like a pig around her right now…_

Kate turned to Gibbs, her lips pursed. "I'm going home tonight… I'm not staying here Gibbs" her tone was calm but determined and as Gibbs narrowed his eyes Abby let out a giggle.

"My money's Gibbs… she'll so end up here tonight" she whispered to McGee. He tilted his head slightly, considering this.

"Nah… have you seen Tony? He won't disagree with Kate tonight. If she wants to go home, he'll taker her home."

"How much?" asked Ducky, surprising both Abby and McGee.

"Eh… 20 dollars?" suggested Abby.

Ducky smiled. "I'm in! My money's on Caitlin being looked over here once again and then being driven home by Anthony… You know all of this reminds of a classmate of mine from back in England. He would always-"

Abby shook her head. "No, not now Ducky. Schh… we need to be quiet now and find out how this all ends… and which one of you suckers I'll have hand me their money first."

OooOOoOoOoOooOOooOOooOOOooOOo

After a staring competition between Kate and Gibbs and both Doctor Holland and Gibbs practically blackmailing Tony in to agreeing to drag Kate down the hall against her will telling him that she would totally kick his sorry ass if she hadn't been having a headache, Ducky ended up 40 dollars richer.

Kate "agreed" to being checked over once again and was then promised to be escorted back to her own apartment after her examination was completed. Doctor Holland upon more than one occasion asked for permission to sedate her, that was how much she "agreed".

After once again declaring that Kate needed to make sure her ribs were not further harmed, and that she needed a lot of rest and writing her a prescription for painkillers they were all excused by Doctor Holland who now felt like he had seen it all. They promised to bring her back in if she "needed to take e few minutes on the floor" again. They were free to go.

_Not a minute too early_, thought Kate as she gave Abby a small hug outside of the hospital. Tony leaned against his car, waiting for her.

"Someone's been doing this to her and I want to know who!" Gibbs hissed, pacing in front of him. Tony nodded. _I know the feeling Boss… believe me, I know the feeling._

Gibbs stopped abruptly and glanced at Kate as she received a hug from Ducky and one from McGee. Tony looked up towards the night sky and the million stars shining down on them. _It's all the same_, he thought. _We all live under the same sky, the same stars… somewhere one very sorry bastard is hiding out… someone who deserves to die… someone under the same stars as our Katie_. The world seemed too small to Tony and he felt tears sting his eyes as he also glanced towards Kate. She looked frail and almost made out glass to Tony as she stood in the moonlight hugging herself, trying to keep warm, as Abby and McGee said their last goodbyes before getting into Tim's car.

"You know what to do Tony…" Gibbs glared at him with a dead serious look on his face. "Until we know what we're dealing with here you stay with her! You do not leave her!"

Tony looked at his boss, nodding once more. "You know I won't".

"I'm heading back to the headquarters. You give me a call if you guys need anything… and Kate?"

She walked towards him. "Yeah?" She yawned, more than a little tired.

"I need your side of the story… get some sleep, have DiNozzo get some food into you and then I want to know what the hell happened… Agent Todd"

She walked past him getting into Tony's car. Gibbs shook his head with frustration before mumbling something about coffee and getting into his own car.

She was tired… tired out of her mind. Her eyelids were heavy and her vision blurry as she fought really hard to keep her eyes open.

Tony tried to focus on the night traffic as they made it through the city. He knew that they had a lot to talk about. He wanted to know what was going on. Not only with Kate collapsing and being beat up but with their handholding and their silent sharing. The last thing he wanted to do was pressure her in to something she did not want, and neither did he want to take any kind of advantage of her… not injured, not hurt or upset… not ever. However, he was not sure she knew that. She'd let her guard down earlier at the hospital, something he knew she never normally did. He was desperate to find out if that's what it was, her feeling ill and upset, being at the hospital or did she trust him always and forever in the way he wanted her to?

"If you're going to stay this quiet for the whole ride I'll just fall asleep Tony" Kate sighed, trying to break the silence.

Tony gave her a small smile but his voice was filled with concern as he spoke. "Sleep is good. You should try it".

She rolled her eyes at him and tried to ignore the fact that she wasn't sure she would be able to sleep tonight. She knew it was her desperate need of control that got in the way again. If she would actually let go of it all and fall asleep the darkness would consume her until she's no longer in charge of the mental pictures or which memories are being played in her head. She would feel it all and she would see everything she felt without being able to do anything about it. Her mind would start sorting out the last couple of day's events and once she fell asleep there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Somehow Tony sensed that Kate did not consider sleep as a good thing right now so he tried option two.

"Do you want something to eat before I put you to bed?" He couldn't fight the urge to grin at her and he was glad he did it 'cause she smiled back at him and he could see the sarcasm building in her playful but tired eyes.

"Do _you_ want something to eat before I kick your butt and then have you sleep outside in the hallway?"

"Are you going to be sleeping there with me?" He chuckled.

"Am I going to sleep with you…?" she twisted his words a bit and pretended to be considering this for a second. As he turned towards her she looked at him seductively and the grin on his face grew wider. They played around like always and Tony almost wanted to kiss her just for doing that.

She leaned towards him… eyeing him up and down. Suddenly he could see her expression change as she put on a look of disgust. "No! Not a chance in hell."

She let out a giggle and he was gaping at her, pretending to be shocked and hurt at her statement.

"That hurt Kate… " He looked at her slyly, "and besides, sleeping with me, hell would be the last thing on your mind. I've heard that it's apparently something more like heaven." his sly expression had turned into another one of his famous grins.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's hell. I'm so letting you in to my apartment, Spanky!" She laughed, happy that Tony still had the ability to do what he always did, take her mind off of the pain.

"I'll just have to sleep in the hall then I guess," Tony winked at her, stopping at a red light. "like some kind of stalker or obsessed lover"

He winced the second he heard the words come out of his mouth. He held on to the steering wheel until his knuckled turned white. "Kate I'm sor-"

She gave him a small smile. "Tony it's fine…" seeing that he still pretty much hated himself for what he'd just said she continued. "I think I might need a stalker like you right now."

He raised an eyebrow and as the light turned green, continued towards her street.

She laughed at his expression. "I know… I never thought I'd ever say those words either DiNozzo."

"I'll be happy to stalk you Kate" He smiled, still feeling a bit stupid about what he'd said.

OOoOoOooooOoOooOoOOoOOOoOOooOoOOo

As he parked the car on her street he could, out of the corner of his eye, see her draw in a quick breath.

He bent over and tried to catch a glimpse of whatever she saw. "What's wrong Kate?" he whispered peering out through her window. His eyes darted here and there desperate to see what she saw.

"He's there Tony…" she whispered back to him her voice cold as ice.

He placed his hand on her knee, leaning over even more.

A dark figure stood by her building, his back against the front doors and arms crossed over his chest. He slowly lifted his head and Kate's eyes widened as he locked eyes with her from across the street. She could hear the raindrops from that night hammer against the roof of the car and she could feel his breath on her neck.

Tony threw his car door open, and looked back at her quickly before darting out of the car. "Stay here, you have your gun right? Stay in the car Kate!" It was an order not a request. She opened her mouth to answer him but he just threw the door shut and with the remote on the key in his hand, locked the doors of his car.

"Freeze! NCIS!" he shouted and ran across the street forcing a passing car to come to a screeching halt just inches from the desperate agent.

The dark figure tore the doors open and ran inside disappearing around the corner down the hall as Tony followed. He could hear his feet pound against the floor as he ran after the man. His gun ready, he threw himself around the corner.

Something reflected the light illuminating from a lamp in the ceiling and Tony could see it as a flash before his eyes.

With a sick sound the metal pipe connected with his head and darkness lined his vision, slowly consuming him, taking his world away from him.

OoOOooOooOoOOoOOoOOooOOOoOOoOo

Gibbs slumped down in his chair placing the fresh cup of coffee on his desk. He watched as McGee, Ducky and Abby strolled in to the office obviously beat. It had been a hard day for them all and he knew that none of them would stop worry about Kate until her attacker had been identified and put away and all of her injuries where healed. Kate was strong and Gibbs did not want to consider the fact that she might not heal mentally. _She'll be scarred for life but we won't let this bastard take our Kate from us… I won't allow it_, his eyes drifted to McGee sitting in his chair, elbows on the top of his desk and his head in his hands, and to Abby sitting slumped on the floor leaning her back against the side of McGee's desk, _neither will they. _

"Jethro?"

Gibbs found Ducky standing in front of his desk.

"Go home and get some sleep Ducky," Gibbs said sitting up in his chair. "I need you to look over Kate tomorrow."

Ducky looked at Gibbs, an obvious look of concern in his eyes. Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"Good night Ducky" he tried again and Ducky nodded, giving in.

OoOOoOooOoOOooOooOoOooOooOooOoo

Abby bent her head back where she sat on the floor, so that she saw McGee up side down.

"I can't believe we didn't notice this morning…" she sighed, her voice low and filled with guilt.

Tim looked at her for a second before turning his eyes towards Gibbs. "Boss, what do you need us to do?" he asked.

Gibbs only waved a hand towards the elevators in response, deep in thought.

Abby frowned. "We're going home?"

Gibbs grunted something that no one could make out and Tim shrugged. "I guess so." He grabbed his backpack and coat and headed for the elevators, dragging his feet behind him. He pushed the button and waited for the elevator to come up. He turned around and found Abby still seated on the floor by his desk.

"Abbs?" he called out. "C'mon, I'll drive you home"

She looked up at him and as their eyes met they silently agreed on her staying at his apartment tonight. She smiled at him and made her way over to the elevator, now held open by McGee.

Gibbs watched them leave and made his decision. He finished his coffee and stood up. He too was going home. In the morning he would have McGee download Kate's phone records. He wanted to catch this guy, whoever he was and he knew that there was a reason for Kate not telling him anything about it. He just had to find out what, with or without her help.

"Tony… I hope you can handle this..." he said under his breath, his mind wandering to his two agents, as he grabbed his coat.

OoOOoOOoOoOOOoOOoOoOOooOOOOo

Sobs shook her body as she felt panic come over her. With trembling hands she unbuckled her seatbelt and frantically searched for the button on the inside of the car door that would unlock it.

She was tired enough to just lay down on the pavement but, gun in hand, she ran across the street, the night air crisp and cold to her skin. Kate knew that Tony probably hadn't been gone for a long time but it felt like an eternity and she couldn't take it any longer. She steadied herself against the wall a moment before quietly making her way inside.

"Tony?" she whispered. No answer. "Tony!" she tried again, a little louder this time. As she reached the corner she took a deep breath before walking around it, her gun drawn and ready to take out whoever was on the other side.

The first thing she saw as she went around the corner was his feet. Her breathing quickened as she forced her eyes away from his shoes. Her gaze bounced from wall to wall, up and down until she was certain that she was indeed alone in the hallway with her partner. Still shaking she spun around to make sure that no one was behind her.

As the adrenalin rush begun to wear off she fell to her knees on the floor biting back a scream as pain shot up her side. She crawled towards him on her knees and hands once again trying to feel the solid floor give her support.

A pale hand, bigger than hers lay palm up on the floor. Her never-ending tears stung her eyes and she furiously tried to dry them with the back of her hand. Giving up she slowly reached out and placed her small hand in his. She lightly traced the lines inside his hand with her fingertips almost afraid that she might break him. The agent in her told her to call for back up and get both her and the man on the floor with her out of the building as the attacker could still be in there but Kate the person was totally hypnotized. She didn't dare to look at his face. All she could see was that open hand and it's soft, pale skin.

"T-Tony?" She choked on her tears and closed her eyes finally giving in to it all. The darkness that overcame her was cold and she felt herself shiver. The only warmth she could feel was coming from his hand. She laced her fingers with his and slowly lowered herself down next to him. "Do you feel the floor Tony?" she mumbled, her head resting on his chest. "It will catch us as we fall… all we have to do is believe in it. Believe in the dream of us… and we'll stand on solid ground… Believe…"

She snuck her free arm around his waist. "…Tony?"

OOooOoOOooOOOoOOOoOOOooOooOooOOo

A lot of fainting and falling in this chapter… I just thought I'd get it all over with and out of the way in one chapter ;) haha nooo…

Is Tony going to be okay and was it Mitchell that attacked him?

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Someone wished for Tony to be hurt… as I said to my English teacher when she said she did not want any xmas cards, Be careful what you wish for… haha, well with my teacher it was more like be careful what you _don't_ wish for. She hates xmas cards so I sent her 26 identical singing and flashing ones this last xmas. The postal service actually sent someone over to her house asking her what was up with all of the xmas cards. She thought it was funny though. Anyways… no need to listen to me walking down memory lane :P

As usual, tell me everything and anything in a review :)

See ya,

/Malin (haha the spell check keeps telling me my name's not spelled right.)


	6. Tears And Thunderstorms

**Disclaimer:** My Civics' teacher promised my group cake and coffee after winning a competition in general knowledge. I told him that I would much rather have NCIS and its characters but he looked at me as if I was crazy. Apparently that meant 'no' and was not negotiable.

**A/N:** I'm terribly sorry for not updating in a while. Believe me it has nothing to do with a lack of reviews, I feel more like spoiled when it comes to those, and neither does it have anything to do with me not planning on finishing this story it's just that this month is insane and I hate May just as much every year. Soon it'll be over though and I can welcome the lazy days of summer, London, my dear host mum and James (You know I love you, please hang in there.) and the rest of the people that I miss all year long until I feel like my heart's bleeding.

Again, **thank you** so much for all of your wonderful reviews. I love them and I love you guys for reading and commenting. I think we all know how encouraging it is to hear both good and bad things about your work… I happen to be very fascinated with a little process called the process of learning.

More McAbby in this chapter, which I know will be appreciated ;) Nothing too steamy… not steamy at all really but they spend some quality time together.

**Through Troubled Nights Chapter 6: Tears And Thunderstorms **

Somewhere far, far away he thought he heard a voice he knew… a voice sweet as honey but filled with pain and fright. The voice of someone he cared deeply for. Someone he'd do anything for. He just couldn't place it.

A slight weight was placed on his chest and he felt the warm tears escaping her eyes drip on his shirt. He was freezing for some reason and as small fingers had laced his fingers he wanted to cry out as her warmth had almost burnt him.

His eyes still closed, and without moving at all he searched his brain for the name of the person holding his hand and speaking to him. Soothing words… warm encouraging words. He knew this voice, he knew he did…

Just as he felt as if he'd figure it out the words, beautiful as a song to his ears, stopped coming. The small warm body pressed against his own relaxed and fell silent. _Don't give up!_ He thought. _Don't leave me… you can do this... Kate… _yes that was it_,… Kate. _

Realising who the small woman next to him was made him fight the darkness that possessed his body and his mind. He had to fight his way back to her. The reason for them being there came rushing back to him like a cold wind, whirling around him like a hurricane. He had been running… running to catch the man who'd hurt Kate. He came around the corner, and then a flash of light followed by darkness accompanied by a splitting pain in his head. _Don't think about it_, he told himself as he once again concentrated hard on fighting the darkness and emptiness that surrounded him, _Kate needs you… feel her… remember her… _

He fought with himself and he felt like he fought with the entire world.

Tony scrunched his face together and let out a low moan as he finally forced his eyes open.

_A ceiling lamp? That's new… _

OoOoOOooOoOOooOooOOOoOOoOoOOoOoOOoO

"This is… it is…. Way beyond hinky Timmy!" Abby sighed and threw herself down on McGee's couch with a thud.

"Want to stay here while I go and pick up some stuff for the night for you?" McGee asked from the kitchen, checking if he had something for them to eat for dinner, didn't look like it. "And swing by the store to pick up some dinner?"

No answer.

"Abby?" he poked his head out.

She knew she should answer him and felt him staring at her as she sat looking into space thinking about everything in the entire world without being able to grasp a single thought. It all just raced through her mind… she knew it was all there even though she couldn't really pin point what it was. Pretty much like when she talked. She knew she had a message in there somewhere and the words just came flying out of her mouth without her having to think twice about it.

"Abby?" there it came again. Her name. Yeah she knew that one.

She felt him come closer to her and could sense him worrying about her. The air in the room felt like there was about to be a thunderstorm. Like heat and cold collided and kind of danced around each other, vibrating and twirling, until something would finally snap and release all of that energy that both forces beheld.

Him being super sweet McGee and all she was pretty sure she was the one to blame for both the cold and the heat roaring in the room building a tension that threatened to make her scream.

His hands on her knees startled her and she lowered her gaze from the wall in front of her finding McGee crouching in front of her, searching for her eyes. As he reached out and lightly as a summer rain touched her pale cheek she felt the thunder in the room explode and her world shake. Her eyes red and her skin feverish under Tim's fingers she let her tears fall.

She took a big gulp of air. "We should have seen it, Tim. She was there and we we're there and she ended up in the hospital and Tony was a mess and we could have prevented it. I could have prevented it. She didn't tell me about it, she didn't feel like she could trust me enough to actually tell me about what had happened and I feel like crap and that makes me feel guilty and even more crappy 'cause I don't have the right to feel like crap at all not after what Kate's been through, if we even know what she's been through, she won't tell us!"

_She_ knew what she was saying so why worry about something as silly as pace?

McGee squinted at her… he knew there was enough words in there for a normal person to say in a week and Abby had just spilled it in under… 20 seconds or something.

He gave her a small smile and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I managed to catch 'Kate' and 'mess' out of that… you speak too quickly Abbs".

She felt as if a ton had been lifted from her tired shoulders. She felt as if the tears that had threatened to fill her entire chest if she held them in any longer were all released with McGee's light touch. Her whole body ached. Being brave in front of Gibbs and the others was exhausting.

She smiled at him, looking a bit more like the Abby they all knew from the lab. "No McGeek… I do not speak too fast; you're just listening too slow"

He smiled back at her. "Of course… You're always right. You know what else you are?"

She bit her lower lip nervously.

"You're a fantastic friend to Kate and she will open up to you about this when she's ready. If Kate would have wanted us to realize something was wrong this morning, we would have." He took her hands in his and helped her stand up.

They slowly walked towards his bedroom. She looked up at him with puffy eyes and her black hair tousled. "So you did hear what I said?"

"No… Lucky guess" he smiled back at her. "Now, let's do something that I haven't done since… ever, I haven't ever done this but I've heard that it's supposed to be something really special" he winked at her and she giggled, tears still in her eyes.

"It's really not that hard Tim and-"she started out.

"Pizza in bed Abby. Let's have pizza in bed." He shook his head as he pulled back the covers. "I'll call and order and have it delivered, why don't you get out of those clothes and get in to bed? I'm sure you can wear something of mine" he gestured towards his wardrobe, before leaving the room.

"Thank you…" she whispered to his back, "for not leaving me tonight"

He hadn't heard her, she knew that, but she didn't care. She needed to say it anyways.

OoOooOOOOooooOOOOoooOOOooOoooOOOo

Mitchell pressed the ice pack against his ankle and sighed loudly. That had been close… way too close…

He hadn't counted on her bringing someone home with her and he definitely hadn't counted on a big fast-running guy, probably from work.

_I thought you understood Kate… I thought you knew what is at stake here_. Mitchell's thoughts wandered towards her sister and niece in the park. _Yeah, won't be hard to find them again…_ he smiled wickedly before trying to put some weight on his sprained ankle. He grimaced in pain, returning to his sitting position in his kitchen. He didn't know how much time he had. He didn't know how much Kate had spilled about their little adventure and he did not want to be there when her stupid team came kicking his door in, ready to shoot him.

_That guy came way too close to catching me tonight_, he thought again, _I'll have to lay low for a while and get out of this apartment. _

It was not his intention to kill Tony with the blow to his head, just put him out for a few minutes. Things had almost gone terribly wrong tonight and murder needed some planning… murder was supposed to be enjoyed. _Like the difference between love and lust_, Mitchell thought, _and I love you Kate_.

Not caring about his ankle anymore he limped towards his bedroom where he threw together what he thought he might need for the next couple of days. His prints would be all over her car and she would know his address so he had to make sure they couldn't find him. _I knew that stupid job of yours would mess things up_, he sighed as he took what he needed from the bathroom and threw it together with his clothes, down in the duffel bag he had found in his closet. He grabbed his laptop and had to bit his tongue to prevent himself from screaming out in pain as he jogged down to his car again.

He knew where to go…

_I can't believe you sent someone after me Caitlin. You'll both pay for that. Yes you will…_

OooOOooOOOoooOOoooOOoooOOOOoOOo

Letting his tired and aching head rest on the floor Tony let his free hand wander. He soon felt his fingers connect with what he had been looking for, Kate's back. She lay completely still and if he hadn't been able to feel her heartbeat against his chest he would have thought she was dead. Her hand lay limp in his other hand and he had to momentary close his tired eyes to gather enough strength to squeeze her hand in his.

"K-Kate?" he croaked. He hadn't really planned for it to sound so fragile and… pathetic but it was all he could do at the moment.

He pressed his chin against his chest, trying to get a glimpse at her face, resting on his chest.

She stirred.

_That's it Katie-girl, wake up… we have to get out of here… _

He took a deep breath to muster some more strength and rubbed his free hand across her back trying to sooth her back to consciousness.

She turned her head, finally waking up, pressing her chin down into his chest, her face now inches from his. Her eyes widened as her evening came back to her. Flashes of his feet there on the floor… his pale and cold hand on the floor stretched out towards her.

"This is some kind of wicked dream, right?" she sniffed, trying to hold back her tears. She had cried enough for one night.

"Wish it was, Kate. We need to get out of here."

Her eyes left his and she looked down the dimly lit hallway. She did not know for how long they had been out but it couldn't have been that long since no one had found them.

"Kate…?" he whispered her name so lightly that she wasn't even sure he'd actually said anything. Her gaze met his, her eyes questioning.

With a low grunt he popped himself up on his elbows ignoring his throbbing head. She looked up at him, her glazed eyes never leaving his.

Without knowing why she crawled up his body, closing the newly formed gap between them. Her breathing was uneven and her mind seemed a bit foggy again but as soon as she felt his lips on hers everything seemed crystal-clear again and as she breathed his oxygen she felt as if she was a part of him. He deepened the kiss, sucking on her lower lip, his tongue playing with hers, and smiled against her mouth as he felt her tremble against him.

"You were just knocked unconscious and you can do _that_! I think I've underestimated your blond bimbos… now I know why they're all putting up with you" she giggled as they parted.

"We need to get going…" Tony smiled.

She gave a small nod and reluctantly crawled off of him. She steadied herself against the wall and heaved her sore body to a standing position. She extended one of her hands to help him up but Tony shook his head, regretting it immediately as a wave of nausea hit him. He needed to get up on his own to prove to both her and himself that he was not seriously hurt.

He followed her example and steadied himself against the wall as he stood up.

"We're going to my place." He said as he made his way out of the building on weak legs.

"What?" Kate glanced towards the spot where they'd just been laying and then hurried after him, steadying herself against the wall now and again as the floor tilted slightly. "We need to get to the hospital!"

Tony looked back at her and held the front door open. "Are you feeling worse?"

She looked at him, confused. "No…" That was true… sure she felt a bit sore and shaken up but the painkillers that her doctor had given her had kicked in and her side was quite numb.

"Then we're going to my place. It's not safe for us to stay here…" he drew his fingers through his hair. He retreated them as he felt them become sticky and wet with his own blood. He'd found the spot where he'd been struck earlier. He brushed it off against his pant leg. "I'm fine Kate, now lets go. That bastard got away, who knows what he'll try next. You have some telling to do sweetheart."

Kate walked outside ahead of him. Walking backwards towards his car she tried to understand what had just happened. "What happened in there Tony? You were passed out when I came in after you. I doubt that you're fine."

He sighed and helped her into the car. He got in on his side.

"He hit me with something on the head. I am fine though Kate. If I would have had a concussion I would have thrown up and not been able to get up… we're not going back to that hospital. You need to get some sleep and I need an Asprin and some ice. I'll get Gibbs to send a team to your building to get any DNA that our guy might have left behind. See if they can find whatever he hit me with, there might be prints"

As Tony started the car and pulled into traffic again he found his cell phone in the car and called Gibbs.

"Hey Boss…"

"No, no… she's okay. We had a little incident at her place though. The guy showed up and I ran in to him… literally."

"He got away Boss but I'm pretty sure he left some evidence behind. We need to catch this guy"

Gibbs read Tony's mind and assured him that a team would be sent to Kate's building and after once again making sure that both his agents were fine and finding out where they were headed he hung up.

The rest of the drive to Tony's was made in silence.

OOooOoOOooOOoOOooOOOooOOooOOooOoooOOo

"Damn it!" Gibbs slammed his fist onto his coffee table causing his cup to tip over and spill its contents all over books and magazines. He didn't care. He wasn't much of a reader anyway and he did not have time to care about spilled coffee right now. Kate's attacker, whoever he was, had been waiting for her. _So beating her up once wasn't enough, huh…_

He threw his coat back on and headed for his car. Running down the street he dialled McGee's number. _No need calling Abby_, he thought, _she's most definitely with McGee…_

Gibbs wasn't as blind and self-centred as many of his colleagues thought; he knew what was going on around him. He'd been through it himself… he knew that Tony and Kate would have to do something about that sexual tension, that they had had between them for almost three years, sooner or later and he could see how much Tim cared for Abby.

Then again, he'd been through it himself and if it turned ugly, it turned really ugly. They did not have the safest jobs and that was why he needed a set of rules to make it just a little bit safer. Rule #12 was one of them and he was not about to let that one go easily. _We'll have to discuss this once this guy is behind bars_, he thought as McGee finally picked up.

OooOOooOooOOooOooOooooOooOOoOooOoOooO

"Shoot" McGee quickly detangled himself from Abby's sleeping form as he heard his cell phone ring out in the kitchen. Gibbs had sent them home but they weren't supposed to be back in the office until the next morning… _unless something happened_, McGee thought tiptoeing out of the bedroom. He did not dare to expect good news in the middle of the night and he doubted that the director would assign them to another case after agreeing to letting them handle this thing with Kate. Bad news about Kate was the only thing he could imagine.

"McGee"

"Hey Boss… what? Yes. At her place?"

"But they're okay?"

He rubbed his hand across his face. "Yeah… yes Abby's here. We'll be right there."

He turned around to go back and wake her but she was already up, standing in the doorway.

"What's happening?"

McGee sighed. "We're going to Kate's. The guy paid her and Tony a little visit…"

She gasped, her eyes wide.

"Are they alright?"

"They're fine according to Tony… which only means that Kate's okay… don't know about him, the bastard got away though and Gibbs needs us to go over the scene. See if we can find some prints. He's meeting us there."

Abby nodded and went to get changed back into her own clothes. Nap time was over.

OooOoOOooOooOOooOOooOOooOOoooOO

Tony had to shake Kate awake as they reached his apartment. About half way there she had finally given in to her own body's plea and closed her eyes. Tony was sad to have to wake her up as he was thankful for every undisturbed minute of sleep she got and normally he'd been able to carry her up those two flights of stairs but he didn't want to push his luck tonight. His head was still hurting as hell.

He wanted to kiss her again as she opened her big sleepy brown eyes. They were filled with confusion but also trust. Trust in him. She looked beautiful there in his car, her hair all messy and her eyes tired eyes glazed.

"I'm pretty sure we've not been followed. We should be safe here. Let's get you into bed, alright?" No need for jokes this time.

She nodded and coming around to her side of the car he helped her out, careful not to let his own pain show. His head was still throbbing and his whole body felt tense and sore.

He put her to bed, like he'd promised, the minute they got inside. He kissed her goodnight lightly on the lips and then one more time on her cheek.

"I'll be right outside, alright?" he whispered to her sensing that she'd be completely out of it in just a few seconds. _She must be exhausted_, he thought.

"No," she mumbled, gripping his wrist and holding on to it with all the strength she could muster, which wasn't that much. "Don't leave. What it Mitchell comes back?" Her eyes fluttered shut and he took her hand from his wrist and kissed the inside of her palm. The name 'Mitchell' registered in his mind.

"I'll take care of my head and I'll be right back, I promise."

He hated to leave her when she'd begged him not to. Kate did not do a lot of begging and in his fantasies she'd begged him to do other things than just stay around… He forced those thoughts away as he entered the kitchen. He was on a mission. He needed to locate some Asprin and take a look on that bleeding on his head.

After having completed both tasks, Tony, pleased to find that the bleeding had stopped on their way to his place, he kept his promise to Kate and returned to his bedroom.

He got rid of his shoes and jeans before crawling down next to her. He kept his gun next to his bed together with his cell phone in case Gibbs needed him… or they needed Gibbs. Laying so close to a sleeping Kate made him feel a bit guilty and… well he could practically hear Kate telling him he's a pig. Deep down he knew he shouldn't feel guilty or bad. She'd asked him to stay with her… hadn't she? Thinking about it Tony wasn't sure that's what she'd done earlier but she hadn't asked him to stay away from her either.

_We did kiss… and she didn't kill me for it. She trusts me… she does… she should. Maybe I should-_

His inner debate was interrupted as he felt Kate snuggle into his side. _Or I could just hold her tonight and feel guilty about it some other day…? _

Tony closed his eyes after glancing at his alarm clock, 2.54 am, and turning on his side so that Kate was leaning against his chest he draped his arms loosely around her, careful not to harm her in any way. He felt extremely tired and knew that he would fall asleep soon as well but for now he was happy with holding her close to him and listen to her breathing.

"We won't let his Mitchell guy come close to you ever again Katie…" his voice was barely a whisper.

He kissed her on top of her head.

"My Katie…"

OOooOOooOOOooOoooOooOOooOoOooOOooOoO

"Mommy…" The little girl crawled into the big bed, teddy bear under her arm.

The sleeping woman that occupied the bed was suddenly not so much asleep anymore.

"What is it honey?" she asked, taking the little girl in her arms, holding her tight.

"A man was staring at me…" she mumbled, settling in her mothers warm embrace.

The woman stroked her daughters light brown curls. "Bad dream?" She pulled the covers over them both and kissed her cheek. "Let's go back to sleep, sweetie."

The girl lay curled up next to her mother.

"…. It was not a dream mommy"

Ally Todd yawned and held her daughter even closer. "Sure it was honey… just a bad dream."

OooOoOoooooOOooOooOOooOOoooOoooO

That was that. I hoped you liked it. It's super late and I should be asleep or studying for my Science test tomorrow morning but I'm obviously not so I'm sure there's mistakes in this chapter that I in broad daylight would have detected that I've missed now and for that I'm sorry.

Edit: Well… just as I said… mistakes, I've corrected the biggest one; the fact that I confused Kate's sisters name with the name of a character in one of my WaT fics I'm working on. It's supposed to be Ally not Emily. I'm sorry if it confused anyone.

You know I love your reviews, I really do so tell me what you think :)

/Malin


	7. A Porcelain Angel Finds Its Wings

**A/N:** I know it's been a really long time since I've updated this and I'm so, so, sorry! I've re-written this chapter, twisted and turned it at least 20 times. I just couldn't get it quite right. For some reason I found this little "in between part" really hard to write the way I wanted it. 

Hopefully you'll like the way it came out.

**Hugs and kisses** to everyone that has reviewed this. I appreciate the support, I really do. A special **thank you** to midnight-sk8r who keeps giving me these amazing ego boosts.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS or any of its characters. If I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, I would be busy playing with them and showing them off to my friends.

Through Troubled Nights Chapter 7: A Porcelain Angel Finds Its Wings 

Tony wasn't sure if it was his own or Kate's nightmare that woke him up. He really didn't care. His own heart was racing and Kate was whimpering next to him. He wasn't sure about what he'd dreamt but he knew it had not been a happy dream. He reached out and grabbed the glass of water on the nightstand.

He felt the cool water run down his throat and was happy to lose the taste of sand in his mouth. He glanced at his alarm clock and realized that Gibbs surely would call them in two or three hours. _I should go back to sleep_, he thought but he was hot and uncomfortable in his t-shirt. _Will have to lose that…_

Kate mumbled in her sleep and after throwing his shirt on the floor next to the bed Tony gathered her in his arms careful not to hurt her.

He closed his eyes and smelled her hair. _Sleep, Tony…_ he thought, _sleep… god she smells good… sleep… sleep it is… I can feel her every curve and- no! Not now… sleep! Go to…I could totally reach under her shirt without waking her, right? _"Please Gibbs, slap me!"

"That's disturbing DiNozzo… do you always talk about Gibbs in bed… and I guess more importantly do you always want him to slap you around in bed?" Kate mumbled against his now naked chest.

His eyes widened but he soon calmed after registering what had just happened. _Crap, I woke her up… oh well… _

"I don't mind a little bit of spanking-" _what am I doing? _"I mean… no… but yes, but no!"

Kate rolled her eyes. She looked up at him and scooted back, immediately regretting it as she now felt cold.

"Can't sleep?" she asked. _God, when did he lose his shirt? Don't stare… do not stare!_

Tony sighed. "I keep dreaming about this Mitchell guy that you mentioned… I suppose he was the one whacking me unconscious back there?"

She stayed silent for what seemed like an hour to Tony before she spoke.

"… sweetheart"

"What?" he narrowed his eyes at her, confused.

"You called me sweetheart…"

He remembered and gave her a small smile. "I'll call you whatever you want me to call you if only you tell me about this Mitchell-person, Katie!"

She groaned at this and he wasn't sure if it was because of the notorious nickname or the mention of Mitchell. He could suddenly feel her move around under the covers as she untangled herself from sheets and pillows.

"I need… air" she got out of bed and quickly disappeared out the door. Tony would have followed her just as quickly if it weren't for the throbbing in his head that was making its way back. He groaned as he sat up in bed feeling about as in shape as a 90 year old. _I bet this is what it feels like being Gibbs. _

"Kate?" He meant to call out for her but ended up whispering her name instead.

He swung his legs over the edge and slowly stood up. He grabbed his head shocked at how much it hurt. He felt the bump. _Beautiful… just beautiful…_

He found Kate on his balcony. She'd left the door open for him and the curtains were moving with the light breeze. There she stood, glowing like she was made out of porcelain in the moonlight, white drapes flopping in the wind around her. Her hair was tousled and her clothes crumpled.

She did not flinch or react in any way as he placed his hand on her back standing beside her. She knew he'd come after her.

"You were right" she said watching the night traffic below them.

"I have my moments…" he said not really understanding what she was getting at but if she wanted to say that he, Tony DiNozzo was right which meant that she was wrong, then he was not about to argue with that or question it. It happened way too rarely. "I guess"

She rolled her eyes at him, knowing that he was completely lost. "I thought that I was protecting the ones I love by not telling you guys what happened and who did… this… to me. You were right… I should have told you."

It was the first time that she had really acknowledged that she had been hurt by someone else, that even though she'd lost control over her own body that control had been taken from her. She had not given Mitchell the opportunity to do anything to her… he had taken it.

"Kate-"

"No Tony, just hear me out. Please let me finish… I thought that by not saying anything I was making sure that I was the only one being harmed. I was wrong."

He wanted to cry or tell her that she didn't have to continue, tell her that he understood, that he knew what she was about to say. That would be a lie. He didn't have a clue but he knew how much she hated the sentence "I was wrong" and he hated hearing her using it now… _Telling me that I'm right and leaving it at that would have been great_, he thought gripping the railing so hard his knuckles turned white.

"He got the opportunity to hurt you Tony, because I didn't warn you about him. I didn't even tell you about whom we were hiding from when you were assigned to look after me tonight. I thought I could handle this on my own without realising that I have a team watching my back whether I ask them to or not. I'll eventually be able forgive myself for what I let happen to me but I'll never be able to forgive myself for you being hurt. I tried to protect the ones I love and because of that one of them was hurt"

It took Tony a while to process what Kate had just said. One of _them_? He glanced at her from where he stood next to her on the balcony. _'Them' as in the ones she loves?_, he thought, his mind racing and his blood rushing in his veins_. I'm one of the people she loves? She… loves… me? _

Kate could practically hear his mind working and he had a distant look in his eyes that told her that he was analysing something. She was pretty sure she knew what it was. The silence felt unbearable to Kate and when he still did not speak for another 5 minutes she spelled it out for him.

"Tony, I know we do… what we do and all and yes I do think you're a skirt chasing pig but I trust you with my life and you're the most charming pig I've ever met." she gave him a small, tired smile. "I love having you in my life."

Tony smiled back at her. _Close enough… _

"Wow!" He said.

She looked at him and did her best to look annoyed.

"What? Is it that weird that I consider you one of my loved ones?"

"No, it's just cool that I'm more charming than Babe. That is one charming pig. People love him… and he did save all of those sheep when the wolf came and still I'm a more charming pig? I'm flattered to say the least."

Kate nudged him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Ough! Okay okay, not that kind of pig, huh?… Seriously though, I'm happy you're letting me be a part of your life and I kind of wish that I could have an even bigger role in your life in a near future…?"

Kate played with the hem of her shirt, staring at her cold, naked feet.

Tony continued knowing that he could be completely shot down any second but he had to take the chance. "I love that you're in my life as well and I hope that you're feeling just as well as I do that we have something more than just a brother-sister bond or a partner bond between us."

Kate cleared her throat. "I wouldn't have kissed you otherwise Tony".

A bit relived that her tone seemed a bit lighter Tony grinned at her forgetting about his insecurities and chance taking. _I never take chances with women_, he thought, _don't need to._ _No one can resist me._ _Maybe Kate has realized that as well… finally…_

"About that, lets do that again sometime, preferably when this nut job is behind bars, my head's not bleeding and oh, lets not wear any clothes!"

Kate rolled her eyes and playfully hit him on the arm. They both stayed silent for a few minutes just breathing in the morning air and watched the traffic below them. Tony was the first to speak.

"So… we have a deal?"

Kate smiled. "More kissing? I could live with that."

Tony smiled back at her before getting serious again. "First you have some more talking to do though, Kate."

She nodded and walked inside again. He followed. The two of them settled on his couch this time. Tony left the balcony door open. If he could keep her from feeling suffocated in any way he would.

"Mitchell and I only went out a couple of times. He didn't really do it for me but wasn't half as bad as others I've been seeing… at least that's what I thought. One heck of profiler, huh?" her voice was drained of emotion and she stared in to space.

Suddenly her eyes widened and she shot up from where she had been seated. "My sister!"

Tony was confused and the sudden movement made him dizzy. _I need to take something for this headache!_ He reminded himself.

"Your sister?"

Kate spun around so that she was facing him. "My sister and my niece! I can't believe I didn't think of them… Tony, he threatened to hurt them if I told anyone about what he did. He had a photo of them, said he knew where they were."

Tony groaned and got up from the couch.

"Bad… bad." he muttered. "You have a sister and niece in town?"

Kate walked back and forth in a panicked state. She supported her tilted head with one of her hands as she gesticulated wildly with the other hand.

"They haven't lived here for that long. When she got divorced she wanted to start over in a new place. I guess we thought we'd spend some time together but with her having a young child and me working all the time… well it just hasn't been happening. I haven't seen her face to face in… years."

Tony tried to follow her with his eyes but found himself close to throwing up within seconds. "Kate…"

She continued her pacing and ramblings.

"He could have them right now… He saw you… no actually he knocked you to the floor. He knows I told you. He's probably figured out I work with you which means he knows that Gibbs knows… oh God Tony they could be dead by now and-"

"Kate!" Tony barked, doing his best to keep his voice steady. "Stand still! You're making me dizzy and nauseous. I'll call Gibbs. We'll take care of this. I'm sure they're fine."

Kate stopped in her tracks realizing that panic did not help them right now. Neither did a sick Tony. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

"You're all pale are you sure you're okay?" Kate walked over to him and sat down next to him on the couch. She touched his cheek with a trembling hand. "You sure you don't need a doctor?"

He stood, slowly. He went back to the bedroom leaving Kate without an answer, alone on the couch.

He re-entered the living room a minute later, cell phone in hand.

"I'm okay Kate. Now lets make sure your sister is too. Do you have her number?"

She nodded. Yes she did, somewhere in her PDA.

"Call her. Tell her that someone's coming over picking her and…?"

"Megan"

"Picking her and Megan up. I'll call Gibbs."

OooOOOooOoooOooooOOOooOoooooOOoOoOO

The two young Agents looked at each other.

"W-we didn't know you wanted us to bring coffee, sir."

Gibbs glared at them.

"Do I look like a man that wants to work this early in the morning without coffee?"

The one that had stayed quiet before now spoke.

"No, sir."

"So tell me again, why didn't you bring me coffee then?"

"We didn't kno-"

Gibbs cut him off.

"Shut up! Go find me whatever this guy used to hit DiNozzo. Now! And don't "sir" me!"

"Yes, sir" they spoke in unison. Upon realizing their mistake they once again looked at each other and then pale as sheets hurried down the hall.

"Boss?"

Gibbs turned around to find McGee with a fresh cup of coffee for him and an obviously caffeine high Abby bouncing up and down.

"Where do you want us Boss-man?" She asked scanning the hallway suddenly happy to have something to do. All this waiting around gave her too much time to think about Kate.

Gibbs accepted the coffee from McGee and rubbed his hand over his tired face. "McGee, I need you to re-do whatever Dumb and Dumber does," he gestured towards the two Agents that hovered a bit further down the hall, trying to find what they believed would be a bat or something. "and Abby we need to know if that blood on the carpet is Tony's and once we get our hands on what was used to hit DiNozzo I need you to get something off of it. Anything. Kate's not talking yet but we can't let that slow us down. She'll have to pull herself together soon though."

With a sample from the carpet and photos and prints collected Abby needed her lab and Gibbs who was done interviewing the few people living on the first floor that actually opened their doors at this early hour decided to come with her.

They were just about to leave the building when McGee came running, followed by the two Agents that Gibbs had brought from the headquarters to help out. He had regretted bringing them the second they arrived.

"Gibbs… I think we got it!" He was excited and Gibbs gave him a small smile.

"Well?"

Agent Smith… or was it Gates? Gibbs couldn't really tell them apart, they both looked equally stupid. Well one of them held a plastic bag that indeed held a steel pipe.

McGee snatched the bag from him and handed it to Gibbs.

"It has some blood on it, not much but some."

Gibbs nodded.

"Right. That's good. None of the neighbours saw anything. Lets head back. I need you to help me get into Todd's computer McGee."

Tim glanced at Abby and then back at Gibbs.

"Her computer? … But-"

"It wasn't a question it was an order McGee. Now, Chip 'n Dale you stay here and see if you can get anything else out of the neighbours, also check if you can find any tyre tracks or anything. We need to find this guy."

Agents Smith and Gates nodded without saying anything. They'd only met Special Agent Gibbs an hour ago and knew that everything they'd heard about him before hand was true.

"I'll send someone else over to check on you later" joined by Abby and McGee, Gibbs turned and left with photos, bloody carpet, prints and the newfound pipe.

"Chip 'n Dale?" McGee questioned as they got in the car.

"Probie is taken" Gibbs stated.

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By the time Mitchell reached his destination the sun was on its way up and he knew he didn't have much time to get settled before the few neighbours in the area would get suspicious. They knew who he was so he was no stranger sneaking around but still, why would he show up at this hour if there wasn't trouble?

There was trouble. Some of it carefully planned and some not planned at all. He had left clues behind for Kate and her team he just hadn't counted on having to do it in such a hurry.

Getting his things inside the little house he thought about the things he'd wanted to do before changing houses. He'd come to Kate's earlier last night to make sure she understood what he was capable of and to make sure she hadn't told anyone. He had so much more in store for her and all of his plans, well many of them would now have to be postponed, since she'd sent that guy after him.

He set up his laptop and closed the drapes. _You and your team will show up at my apartment within an hour and you'll find a little present I left behind for you, and then I'll know where you are at all times. You go visit your sister… I'll know. You stay at a friend's house, I'll know. _

He made his way into the kitchen and found a Coke in the fridge. _This is my way to protect you Kate. To show you the power the man has in a relationship… _

He felt a bit rushed after having fled his own apartment with his sprained ankle but he was pleased still. He had threatened Kate and now he would get the chance to show her that he was capable of it. _You'll see that the only option, the right thing to do, is to listen to me Kate. You'll see. _

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Abby went downstairs with her evidence and McGee sat down at Kate's desk.

"Couldn't we just ask her Boss?" Tim asked not really wanting to hack into her computer and phone records.

"Yes we could. Now do it. I want-" His phone cut him off.

"Gibbs. Yes?"

"_Hey it's Tony. I got through to Kate. He threatened her sister and her niece. That's why she didn't say anything. I got a name Boss and Kate was at his place, she knows where he lives. He still has her car. We should pick it up."_

Gibbs sighed with relief. They got a name and an address. That could definitely help.

"Bring her here. I want Ducky to look the two of you over before you go anywhere. Lets hope this guy is stupid enough to actually return home. What did you say about her sister?"

"_Mitchell Devon, that's our guy, said he'd go after her sister Ally and her niece Megan if she told anyone. She's talking to her sister now to make sure they're alright. Someone should go pick them up. We might know where he lives but he's out there somewhere Boss." _

"You get Kate here. I'll take care of the sister and niece. You have an address?"

"_Yeah, hang on…" _

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Kate flipped her cell shut and leaned against the wall, eyes closed. Tony, who had long ago ended his conversation with Gibbs, took an asprin and walked over to her.

"Everything okay?" He asked placing a hand on her shoulder.

She shook her head, no.

"I can't believe I brought her and Megan into this mess… " She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He stepped closer to her and her hands travelled up his chest, landing on his broad shoulders. Their faces were no mere inches apart and she could feel his warm breath on her face. Her eyes locked with his and once again she knew they were connected in that way that only the two of them could be. That wasn't anything new. They had always been able to communicate in silence… they used to call it their partner bond, sometimes even brother-sister bond but now they knew that it was more than that.

Deep down they had always known but tonight Kate was brave enough to accept it and Tony was ready to take that last step. On the balcony they had agreed in words… now, as she looked into his eyes, their souls agreed.

She brought on of her hands through his ruffled hair until she found it. The bump.

"I can't believe my mess became your mess…"

"_Our_ mess" he whispered before placing his mouth on hers.

She wanted to let it all go as her tongue danced with his. Her knees felt weak and she knew she'd fall to the floor any second now… but Tony would be there with his strong arms to catch her. He would support her… just like he would in any situation and she knew that. She let him deepen the kiss to let him know that she trusted him. He brought his arms around her before ending the kiss with one of his trademark smiles.

She knew and he knew.

Kate Todd had confessed to herself that she wouldn't be able to do this without help, his help. She had confessed that she needed him and her world had not fallen apart. She'd let him know that she trusted him to help her through this and he was still there. He wasn't laughing, he wasn't teasing her. He was still holding her in his arms and he wasn't planning on letting go.

Kate suddenly felt stronger than she had in weeks. They would get through this. Mitchell may have hurt her, may have taken her control from her but she was not broken and she would take that control back.

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Ally Todd would normally have appreciated a phone call from her sister. She would have loved to hear what she was up to and make plans for some coffee together. It would be good for Megan too to get to know her aunt, Ally was sure... but not four in the morning.

In fact, Ally did not appreciate anything but sleep at four in the morning and Kate's story about some lunatic that had threatened to get back at her through her and Megan sounded a bit… unrealistic.

"I can't believe she got me out of bed…" she mumbled as she dressed her half-asleep and confused daughter.

"Where are we going mommy?"

"Aunt Kate needs us to go with her to work this morning, love."

"It's night…" Megan rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and tucked her teddy bear under her arm.

"We'll tell Kate that when we see her" Ally gave her daughter a small smile.

A car came to a screeching halt outside on the street and Ally froze and hurried over to the window. She peeked out but couldn't see anything. Ally felt a bit paranoid as what had seemed unrealistic minutes before all of a sudden seemed very realistic.

"Go get your jacket, honey" she called back to Megan still trying to see who was outside. "Hurry up now!"

Megan nodded and was just about to do what she was told when someone pounded on the door. She sensed her mothers fear, her lip quivered and tears threatened to fall.

"M-mommy?"

Ally silently ushered her daughter back into the bedroom and after grabbing a kitchen knife went to open the door.

She took a deep breath and found herself face to face with a man. The gun in his hand was all it took for Ally to let the knife scatter to the floor. Her eyes widened and the air got caught in her throat as she backed away from the door, a feeling of panic rising in her chest.

"Who are you?"

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The way I've planned it, there should be another 3(-ish) chapters to this.

Chip 'n Dale are called Piff and Puff in Swedish by the way… in case anyone was sitting there thinking "Gee… I wonder what they're called in Sweden… is it the same as here?" (I bet there were loads of you thinking this exact thing). Oh and Dumb and Dumber are called Dum and Dummare. (If anyone actually was wondering about this, like for real, let me know and I'll send you a basket of muffins).

Again, I'm sorry for the delay. I promise I'll get the next chapter up quicker. I just have to look it over a couple more times.

Tell me what you think (and about anything else that's on your mind) in a review.

**Thank you** for reading and reviewing.

/Malin


	8. Logic And Reason

**A/N: **Thank you for your wonderful reviews. They're really inspiring as usual. You guys should have seen my brother and my friends Simon and Jonas today when they asked me to rent a movie with them and I told them I couldn't 'cause NCIS would be on in 5 hours. They looked at me as if I was crazy. Maybe I am… but who cares when there's NCIS on tv?

**Disclaimer: **I had this dream the other night where you could buy NCIS and its cast and crew on eBay… and I did! It was great… until I woke up and realized that it was all a dream (yes I did check on eBay that morning to make sure, I'm not stupid!) so I guess that lucky bastard that owned NCIS before still owns it. But one day… one day….

**Through Troubled Nights Chapter 8: Logic And Reason**

"Who are you?"

The man slowly stepped inside and bent down to pick up the knife that Ally had dropped.

Ally was sure the stranger could hear her heart beating as it was pounding in her chest. She suddenly forgot how to breathe when he took another step towards her holding the knife in front of him.

He looked at her but she couldn't read him. She had no idea what he was thinking… but on the other hand, not breathing, caused her to not know what she was thinking herself. She jumped when he finally spoke.

"Good girl… Number 9: "Never go anywhere without a knife". If only I could get Kate to adapt my rules we wouldn't be standing here right now."

He handed the knife back to her and she accepted it with trembling hands after a few seconds of hesitation.

"…and she wouldn't be stuck with DiNozzo watching out for her and her bruised ribs."

Ally felt someone tug at her arm and felt her eyes glaze over with tears as she looked down at her little daughter. Megan stared at the kitchen knife in her mothers hand.

Ally gave her a small smile.

"It's okay honey, we won't need this" she glanced towards the man standing in front of them. "right Mr..?"

"Gibbs… Special Agent Gibbs" To reassure her he showed her his NCIS badge. "I work with your sister. We need to get going." He looked down at the little girl and then back at Ally. "I don't think you'll be going back here for a while."

Ally nodded and she ushered her daughter towards Gibbs. "Stay here with Special Agent Gibbs Megan, I'll be back in a second"

She disappeared into her bedroom and Gibbs was left by the door alone with a wide eyed five year old. He looked back at her and expected her to say something. Nothing came and Gibbs felt stupid as he realized that he had managed to create an awkward silence with a five year old.

He searched his head for something to say. _If I stood here… five years old, with a strange man, waiting for my mother who had just been scared as hell, what would I want to hear? _

He cleared his throat.

"There's coffee in the car…"

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Kate and Tony stepped off the elevator only to find McGee alone but not where he usually was.

"What do you think you're doing at my desk?" She glared at him and Tony shook his head.

"Not cool Probie… not cool"

Tim looked from Tony to Kate.

"I-I… Gibbs… well I… I mean Gibbs said…" he stuttered.

Tony rolled his eyes and turned towards the elevators. "I'm going to see Abbs…" he called over his shoulder. Kate ignored him and stayed focused at McGee.

"Tony gave you his name, didn't he?" she asked, her hands on her hips.

"Well… actually he gave Gibbs his name and then Gibbs told me and-"

"McGee!" Kate cut him off. "What are you doing at my desk!"

"I was supposed to go through your phone records when Tony called and Gibbs told me to look up our guy instead… I guess I just didn't bother changing computers."

Kate stared at him for a while.

"I'm going to take some more painkillers and you better be at your own desk when I get back!" She pointed a finger at him.

She had just had one man invade her space in the last 72 hours. She didn't want Tim to go through her computer on top of it.

She headed for the bathroom and Tim was once again left alone. He shook his head to clear it. What had just happened? He knew he should just rise and sit at his own desk like Kate told him to but he found himself frozen in her chair. Had the whole hard drive that was the world just been rebooted or something? Had someone downloaded new updates for the system? Everything seemed to kind of crash around him and nothing seemed to be the same to him.

He wasn't supposed to be brought closer to Abby because Kate got hurt and they were supposed to solve murders, not chase possessive ex boyfriends.

McGee liked systems. He liked things that made sense. Like html or java script. Logic and reason. He loved that 1+1 always became 2 no matter what it was or where in the world you were and he always had. 2 + x 5. x 3 in McGee's world. This early morning though the equation didn't add up. There was no system, no manual, no guide to read. There was no program to use to clear up the picture or key to read the cryptic text.

As he sat there in Kate's chair taking it all in he was sure he could see the walls around him come crashing down. He could hear the whooshing sound and he could smell the dust. He stared into space trying to will it all away. Trying to find the logic… the reason.

There wasn't one and he knew it. He just didn't know how to live without it…

Kate returned from the bathroom and as their eyes met from across the room he knew that she wouldn't yell at him for still sitting at her desk. She came closer and closer to him and as she reached the desk he felt as if he was staring right through her.

"What have you got?" she asked bringing him back.

"No logic" he stated, honestly.

She gave him a weak smile.

"I have no control. What do you say we make things right again?"

He looked at her and realized that her world didn't function the way it should right now either. As she pulled Tony's chair over and sat down next to him, looking at him expectantly trusting him Tim knew that her walls had fallen too. In more ways than one.

He nodded and typed in the name Mitchell Devon.

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A certain farting hippo was being tossed in the air, up and down, up and down by a pacing Tony.

Abby tried to concentrate on her evidence and listen to what Tony was telling her but found it hard not to follow her precious Bert with her eyes as he flew through the air. She fought the urge to cut Tony off and reclaim her animal but knew that she was being silly. Maybe Tony needed to toss him around like that to vent and since she honestly couldn't remember a word Tony had said in the last ten minutes since she hadn't paid any attention she deserved to be punished by having her dear hippo thrown in the air.

Tony wouldn't drop him and what if he did… it wasn't like Bert would break any bones or- screw it, Abby might not be listening to her confiding (or whining? She wouldn't know, she really wasn't listening) friend but Bert was not the one that should be punished for it.

"Tony can I just…" she took small steps towards the agent and then before Tony could react she snatched the stuffed animal from him just as he was about to catch Bert after another of his trips through the air.

"…sorry Abbs" Tony tried, not really understanding why he couldn't keep the animal any longer.

"No, no… that's okay…" she placed Bert on one of her shelves and made sure it was out of reach for Tony. "You were saying?" She returned to her computer.

Tony hesitated for a second or two before continuing. "… well we kissed! And I just don't want her to think that I'm using her, being hurt and vulnerable right now. I mean it's Kate… I just want her to know that I'll be there for her, whether she wants this kissing thing to become a more permanent and frequent thing or not. I would never go to Kate for a one-night-stand… that I have a ton of other girls for."

Abby looked at him sceptically, eyebrows raised.

Tony recognized the look on her face and nodded. "Okay, yeah, one of the things that will have to go if I'm serious about this me and Kate thing… right?"

Abby nodded a stern look still on her face.

"If you actually start a relationship with Kate and you as much as mention 'one-night-stand' and 'other girls' Gibbs will probably be first in line to slap you."

Tony frowned. "Ah… so you're saying Gibbs would have to know?"

Abby sighed. "Get out of here!" she threw a pencil at him.

"Ouch!" Tony laughed running out of the room. "Alright, alright I'm going!"

_Fingerprints and blood…_ she thought as she hurried around the room in a way that to a stranger would look unplanned and messy but Abby knew what she was doing. She was in control. She would have her blood work done in… 45 minutes and she would be ready to put the prints they got off the pipe through AFIS in a few minutes if she hurried up. _Fingerprints and blood…_

They needed to put Mitchell at the scene. Gibbs wanted to know for sure that it was him that took a swing at Tony. Not that he didn't think it was Mitchell but he needed proof. No guessing would be good enough here…

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Tony knew something was up the second he stepped off the elevator. The air was standing still and not a single English word seemed to be remembered by the few occupants of the room.

He slowly made his way over to where the others were standing, careful not to make any sudden movements. No one seemed to notice him and he was afraid that if he broke the silence and actually said something it would be the wrong thing to say or give one of them a heart attack. This kind of silence was suffocating. Sure he knew Gibbs could make even the toughest person uncomfortable but this was different.

As he came to a stand behind Kate he locked eyes with Gibbs and realized that he was trying to figure out what the hell to do as well.

Gibbs wasn't much for wasting time and especially not on staring competitions that were supposed to be family reunions. He wanted, no needed to continue his investigation and did not have time or patience enough to just stand by the elevator watching Kate trying to figure out something to say to her sister all morning.

If this was a normal morning Tony would be trying to decide on whom to laugh at first; Kate standing speechless and uncomfortable in front of him or his Boss who looked like he wanted to bark something so badly but was stuck with a six year old and a still shaken up Ally Todd who refused to move any closer to her older sister than she had to. Yes, any other day Tony would have laughed his ass off but not today.

No, today it was all about whom to help out first. Tony felt almost sickly noble and helpful but knew that he had to do something. He cleared his throat without really having figured out what to say.

"So… dinner with the Todd family must be a blast." He flashed Ally a smile. "You all being so talkative and all"

He could feel Kate staring angrily at his back.

She thought she was handling this just fine. What was she supposed to say anyways? 'Sorry I dragged you to the office at this hour but since we last saw each other I've been beaten up by some guy I dated briefly. Oh and by the way he threatened to take out his revenge on you and your daughter… breakfast?'

Gibbs saw Tony's ramblings as an opportunity to get things moving. He put a hand on the back of the little girl next to him and pushed her towards Tony.

"Here, DiNozzo, take Megan with you and get some coffee." He looked towards were McGee was still seated at Kate's desk trying to be as invincible as he possibly could. "How's that background check coming? Anything that could help us?"

McGee looked up and met his gaze mumbling and stuttering something that Gibbs thought, possibly could be a 'yes'… or a 'maybe'.

Tony looked down at the little girl that was obviously his responsibility for the next few… minutes. His eyes wide, he turned towards Kate. She could see the panic and insecurity in his eyes. He was pleading for help.

She closed the space between them and a placed a hand on his arm.

"Whatever you find funny, she'll find funny. Whatever you like to eat, she likes. Whenever you're confused, she's confused. She's six, Tony. The two of you are on the same level."

Tony glared at her and mouthed a sarcastic "Thank you, honey" to Kate before once again turning around to face his new best friend.

"Well princess… looks like the two of us will be getting some coffee."

Megan glanced around the room.

"That's the most important thing for us to do?" she asked unbelievingly. "I thought we'd catch bad guys"

Tony shook his head. "I know! You'd think-" He cut himself short. _Hey, I totally agree with a six year old… _He cleared his throat and looked around to make sure that Kate or Gibbs hadn't caught his and Megan's conversation. They hadn't. "Let's get moving…"

Gibbs was currently standing next to McGee back at Kate's desk and Kate had finally advanced on her sister. Neither of the women seemed any more comfortable with each other yet but Tony was glad they had tracked Ally and Megan down and hoped that the new company would do Kate good.

With a last glance back towards Gibbs, Tony grabbed Megan's hand in his and walked towards the elevators.

"Wanna push the button?" He asked looking down at the little girl. To Tony she looked quite a bit like Kate. Dark hair, deep eyes and a facial expression that made her look like she could take care of herself.

Eyebrows raised Megan looked back up at him.

"No that's okay…"

Tony grinned and hurried to push the button himself.

"Great! I wanted to do it anyways" He loved the way the button would light up under his touch.

The six year old next to him shifted on her feet.

"I could tell"

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"I sent some people to the address that Kate gave me as his home address and it's empty, so where could he be?" Gibbs looked expectantly at McGee who'd done the background check.

"That's his only listed address but his last employer told me he has a brother."

"Any other relatives?"

"No… not according to Mr Hastings, his last employer. Mr Devon, Mitchell, worked at his real-estate agency for…" McGee searched through his newly printed documents. "6 years. He got fired three months ago after two of his female colleagues filed sexual harassment complaints against him. I don't know when he met Kate but I'm guessing it was shortly after…"

Gibbs sighed.

"Do you have an address for the brother?"

McGee shook his head. "No."

"Find one!"

With that Gibbs took off towards the elevator, wanting to pay Abby a visit next and find out if she had any information on those prints yet.

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"Mr…?" Megan played with her seatbelt.

"Tony"

She looked up at the man driving the car.

"Mr Tony?"

Tony flashed her a broad smile. "Just Tony…"

"Just Tony, do you know my aunt?"

The agent rolled his eyes at his "new" name.

"Sure… Kate and I work together, we're partners. I know her."

Megan leaned her head against the car window.

"I don't" she sighed, her young face sad.

Tony cringed… he was pretty sure he wasn't the best person to handle this. _Now this is why I wanted Kate to help me out…_

"…She wants to get to know you, she's just… busy" he tried, hoping that the little girl wouldn't think more about it.

Megan drew hearts in the fog that she'd created breathing on the window.

"Does Mr Gibbs have her do a lot of important things?" She asked, breathing against the glass again.

"Yeah. She's a great agent and Gibbs wants the best of the best to help him catch bad guys" Tony parked the car outside Starbucks.

Megan looked at him. "You're not too busy to get coffee and look after me?"

"No" Tony answered unfastening his seatbelt.

"No important things for you then… I guess that's smart"

"Hey! I get to do loads of important things and I want to get to know you. I'm like a James Bond type of guy, isn't that cool?"

Megan opened her car door and stepped out on the sidewalk, turning and looking back at Tony, who was still seated in the car. "I like Winnie the Pooh better"

Getting out of the car Tony muttered, "I'll introduce you to McGee then" to himself.

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"What do you have for me Abby?"

Abby spun around finding Gibbs in the doorway.

"There you are Gibbs. I expected you to be here at least 15 minutes ago…" She smiled at him.

"I'm here now. What about those prints?"

"Our guy's in the system. Sexual-"

Gibbs broke her off.

"Harassment case, yes I know. So the prints belongs to Mitchell Devon then?"

"Wanna know whose blood it was?" Abby grinned.

Gibbs sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Guess for Kate's!" Abby said.

Gibbs looked shocked. "Kate?"

"Wrong! The correct answer is Tony's!"

Abby loved playing little games with Gibbs to get him to relax… she wasn't sure it made him relax very much though. But she enjoyed it.

Without a word Gibbs turned and left the lab, heading upstairs again.

Mitchell was the one who attacked Tony at Kate's and all they had to do now was catch him. Gibbs knew that he had to catch this guy or he'd go mad. He had to get a look at the guy that dared to touch Kate. That had the nerve to hurt his agent… Tony's partner and their friend. Kate was a proud and private person and the fact that someone had tried taking that away from her… that this man had laid his hands on her against her will sickened him.

And as if attacking Kate hadn't been enough this guy then took a swing at Tony. Gibbs cared more for Tony than he'd ever admit to himself and definitely not to Tony.

Both Tony and Kate were his people and Mitchell would pay for entering their lives. Gibbs clenched and unclenched his fists as he waited for the elevator to arrive. This should be simple… they had a name an address, Kate knew what he looked like and they had his prints. He was still near by, Gibbs could feel it, and still it felt as if he was so far away… far away from where he belonged, prison.

One thing Gibbs knew for sure. He wanted to hit someone and soon!

He arrived back at the desk area and found Kate and Ally alone.

"Where's McGee?" he barked, scanning the are with his eyes.

"He said something about Mitchell's brother…" Kate said looking a bit pale.

Gibbs took a deep breath. _Good…_ For a second he forgot what he was supposed to do next. _Kate doesn't look well. I should- No! Catch bad guy – then rest. Should be my rule number 51!_

"Ally why don't you visit Abby in the lab? I'll get Ducky to take you down there." he then addressed Kate. "Kate, we're going to get your car. It's still at Mitchell's, right?"

Kate was now, if possible, even more pale. "Yes… but-"

"Good. Let's go." Gibbs handed Kate her coat and left for the elevator.

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Mitchell thought laying low and taking it easy for a while would do him good. Just sitting around on the couch with his ankle on ice watching television should be really relaxing… it wasn't. He couldn't tare his eyes off the laptop on the coffee table and every time he checked the map only to find Kate's car just where they left it the night before he wanted to shoot something.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to go down. Why hadn't she picked up her car yet? Something was wrong he could feel it… what if they were on to him? Were they on their way right now?

His eyes wide open he threw himself to the floor and crawled over to one of the windows. He peeked under one of the blinds… could they be out there? Hiding between the trees? His gaze travelled to the sky… would they arrive in choppers any second now?

He was in way over his head going after an NCIS special agent… right!

_No… she's nothing. She can't beat me… she's a woman. She's weak and helpless. She needs to be controlled, like all other women. She just doesn't know it yet. _

He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and couldn't believe he almost lost it moments before. The sickening feeling of panic was still present in his chest and as he rose from the floor he could swear it shifted a bit.

"She's weak and I'm going to teach her… She'll see… they'll all see that she needs me to control her." he said aloud as he scrambled over to the couch and his laptop again. The car was still parked in his street.

"She thinks she's playing games with me… she's insulting me and I'm just sitting here!"

He stood up in fury.

_She wants me to leave her alone… she wants me to sit around and wait for nothing and I'm doing exactly that! _

His eyes grew darker as he threw his fist through the living room wall.

He blew the dust off of his now red knuckles and with his mind slightly clearer than before searched the kitchen drawers. He was a man of action and he would prove it. This wasn't only between him and Kate anymore and that wasn't his fault. No it was Kate's. She was the one who brought her team into this… she was the one who took that guy to her apartment.

He'd taken care of that situation and now he would take care of this situation. He'd prove to all of them that he was the one in charge.

The frantic search ended as he found what he'd been looking for. The key.

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Things had moved quickly and it hadn't been more than 72 hours since she last saw Mitchell's apartment but as her and Gibbs pulled up next to her car it felt like years ago. Years of jumping at high noises. Years of giving in to Tony and letting him take care of her and help her. Years of hating herself… years of physical pain…

Again her throat felt tight and breathing, for what felt like the hundredth time these past days, was hard and something she had to concentrate really hard to do.

_I bet this is what it feels like being allergic to peanuts…_

"We'll just do this and it'll be over with" Gibbs mumbled in the drivers seat. She nodded, reminding herself of letting her chest rise and fall every now and then… this was supposed to be something that happened automatically but Kate didn't trust her body to dot his on its own right now. As fast as she stopped instructing herself her lungs burned and stars danced before her vision. _In and… out… in and... out… c'mon Kate you've been doing this your whole life. _

She jumped, startled, as Gibbs suddenly got out of the car. She followed.

They entered the building.

"I want you to go over what happened… I want you to show me where you were and what he said and did." Gibbs didn't stop to see if she'd heard him or agreed. He ushered her up the stairs to show the way to the right apartment. It wasn't really hard to figure out which one it was 'cause two other agents waited outside the door for them.

Kate tried not to see anything around her as they walked down the corridor. It swayed slightly and she wished she had taken her painkillers with her. What Gibbs had told her to do as they entered had finally started to sink in. She would have to tell him what happened. She'd have to tell Gibbs of all people how she let herself down… how she lost control. Not being able to breathe seemed like a small problem as she willed her feet to move… She felt exhausted as if she'd walked for miles and miles and the corridor didn't seem to end. She blinked as she felt panic come over her as she realized that she didn't want it to end.

Gibbs easily recognised the unsteadiness in his agent and placed a hand on her back to steady her. He was afraid he would scare her but she didn't even react.

"He's not in there this time. It'll be just you and me…" Gibbs tried.

She continued to stare ahead of herself, her breathing ragged.

Gibbs decided that they shouldn't make this visit longer than necessary. They'd be in and out.

He flipped his phone open and called Tony.

"DiNozzo… yes I know I'm not at the office… my coffee? Leave it I need you to pick up Kate's car."

"Yes, just come here, pick it up and drive it back to the office"

He hung up the phone and guided Kate into the apartment, his hand still on her back.

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"We're heading out on another adventure!" Tony beamed. Megan sighed.

"We just got back here…"

"Move it missy…" Tony pointed towards the elevators.

She rolled her eyes and jumped off the chair.

"More coffee?" she asked. Tony ignored her question.

Gibbs hadn't said anything about the kid but as they got back with the coffee, cold by now by the way, Tony had been told by Abby that Ally had fallen asleep and he did not want to leave the girl by herself in the office.

She played with the radio the entire way over to Mitchell's street. She started out by finding out what happened if you pressed all of the buttons at the same time. Tony rolled his eyes at her and almost told her that he'd already tried that but stopped himself… playing with the radio didn't seem very James Bond-ish… not even to him and he had to prove to Megan that he did get to do important stuff.

They arrived and Tony collected the teddy bear, extra sweater, hairbrush, a pink pen that lit up when you wrote with it that Abby gave to Megan before they left and a drawing of piglet.

"We're changing cars" Tony muttered as he balanced all of Megan's clutter, getting out of the car.

"Why?"

"Because we are!" Tony called back at her as he crossed the street. She hurried after him, picking up the hairbrush that Tony had dropped.

"Why?"

"Because!" Tony called again, taking out the extra car key that he'd taken from Kate's desk before they left from his pocket. He unlocked the car and threw all of the girls' things in the back seat of the car. "This one not only has a radio…" he said with a grin as he turned around to greet the girl. "…but a cd player as well!"

"I'm done with buttons." she said and climbed in the back seat to join her teddy bear.

Tony gave up. He got into the car and pulled in to traffic.

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Gibbs saw Tony drive off in Kate's car through the window. He turned back to Kate who stood behind him looking like she'd break into tears any second.

"Tony took your car. He'll take it back to the office… I thought you'd probably not want to do it."

She shook her head. "No… thank you."

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He hurried past the coffee table when he caught a glimpse of the laptop and what was happening on the screen.

Her car was moving!

He grabbed the computer and headed for his car. His laying low plan was now officially in the bin.

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"You okay back there?" Tony watched Megan in the rear-view mirror. She looked tired and even though she practically sounded like Kate, Tony was reminded of the fact that she was only a little kid and being pulled from bed in the middle of the night by a stranger must have taken its toll on her.

"Lets stop for some juice" he said. As a kid he used to drink orange juice when he was tired all the time, it always ended with him jumping up and down driving people nuts for three hours afterwards. _This girl needs to jump up and down for a while,_ he thought.

"I know a really great place… it's called 7-eleven!" he continued.

Megan raised an eyebrow.

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Mitchell couldn't help but smile as he glanced towards the laptop in the passenger seat and found the red dot that showed the position of Kate's car, standing still just around the corner. It'd been standing still for a few minutes allowing him to catch up.

He grabbed the laptop and a few other items from under the passenger seat and left the car. He walked around the corner and recognised the car immediately. He walked closer and froze in his tracks as he realized that Kate wasn't in the car.

_Damn it! Where is that little whore?_

He took small steps towards the car and found a little girl in the back seat. He knew Kate didn't have any children… right?

_Unless she lied about that! _

Mitchell was angry as he continued to look for Kate as he stepped up next to the car. The child did look like Kate… he then saw him. The man that he knocked out with the pipe, he was inside the store.

Kate wasn't here… she had tricked him, again! He felt his blood boil with anger and he knew that he couldn't just turn around and leave. He would get to Kate, one way or another and as he pieced together that this man must be more than a colleague to Kate since she brought him home with her that night… and… and… this child must be theirs he formed a new plan in his mind.

_I'll break you Kate. You and your little family._

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_Crap_, was the first word that popped into Tony's head as he exited the store, two glasses of orange juice in hand.

Megan stared at him through the window of the car and she wasn't alone.

"I could have sworn there was no creepy-looking man in the back seat when I left" he muttered under his breath as he slowly walked closer to the car.

Megan leaned further back into her seat and Tony felt like throwing up as he saw that the man had a gun to Megan's head.

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**TBC… **

I hope anyone's still with me on this one. I'm sorry about the elephant-sized delay :)

I hope this chapter wasn't confusing or anything.

**Thank you** for reading and please tell me what you think.

/Malin


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